Am I missing something, he was at best going to get 4th at Silverstone but if he was underfueled as much as Hamilton as he was slowing as much as Hamilton during the previous stint, then Massa would probably have caught and passed him so could easily have been as low as 6th, so max 12 points, maybe 8, and yesterday he was on course for another 6th at best, after a crap race, so for me had he had neither failures, he would be at best 20 points better off, probably get at least 16, could have made a mistake and got nothing.
Thats assuming Massa hadn't pitted when Button's wheel came off at Silverstone, had to tell from the highlights where everyone was as everyone was pitting around him, even if he came out at full speed he was clearly going to be behind Hamilton, who was behind Vettel, Massa was ahead of them but I assume hadn't pitted.
As always lol
1) Whitmarsh himself said after Silverstone - they should have got 2nd and 4th and seeing as JB was challanging MW right uip to that pitstop quite easily Im not sure why he couldnt have got 2nd
We will never know how much if at all JB was underfueled - but who says he was at all? Just because McLaren went with one strategy from 10th doesnt mean from 5th? they would have fuled JB the same (in fact its unlikely for many reasons)
Yesterday he was catching Vettel hand over fist (a second a lap for last 5 or so laps before hydraulics went) so he could have got a 4th - esp with theoretically one less stop (going 25 laps per tyre set as apposed to 15 or so)
Definitely a real shame for Button, he deserves more points and has had a great season, if you put saturday's quali to one side, but I generally dont agree with these sentiments.
Didn't Button retire from 5th and 6th? My memory is fuzzy but that sounds about right. That's 18 points rather than 25 or more that he lost. You could say he could have made up places from there, but equally he could have lost places from there, especially at silverstone where he might have had to fuel save like Hamilton.
Similarly people talk about Monaco last year as terrible luck but he was running in 11th when he retired, and it's almost impossible to score significant points from there.
It sounds like I'm picking on Button here, but usually every driver gets a bit of bad luck during the season, and a couple of DNFs from mediocre scoring positions isn't that bad.
edit: looks like I got beaten to this post by drunken
He was challanging MW DIRECTLY at the pit stops - and MW as we know (while unable to) was going for 2nd at Silverstone - so its quite feasable JB would at least have been ahead of Mark, and potentially Vettle too given JB's speed in latter stages of most races recently
I also thiink he was on one less stop than most yesterday - given the 25 lap stint he did at the start - so again he would have been challanging if not past Vettel yesterday
Certainly over 20 - but potentially 25+
Monaco is difficult for sure, but he could have also used the most significant car differences more easily against the lower top ten cars to gain decent points (and Spa where he was taken out by SV from 2nd / 3rd at worst)
Bad luck is one thing - but Hamilton seems to make his own bad luck, where as its gifted to JB from those around him lol
