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F1: Button Unmoved By Hamilton’s Struggles

Jenson Button has revealed he will not be talking to his teammate Lewis Hamilton about the 2008 world champion's latest controversy.

It has been suggested that, without a conventional manager, Briton Hamilton is in need of guidance in the wake


Jenson Button has revealed he will not be talking to his teammate Lewis Hamilton about the 2008 world champion's latest controversy.

It has been suggested that, without a conventional manager, Briton Hamilton is in need of guidance in the wake of his professional split with his father.

The 26-year-old is once again in the doldrums after Singapore and his spat with Felipe Massa, while the much more experienced Button in the sister McLaren is happily the only driver still mathematically in contention for Sebastian Vettel's title.

So will Button be phoning Hamilton this week?

"To be fair I wasn't planning on it," he is quoted by the Telegraph. "We never talk away from the circuit.

"When he gets back home I am sure he will have people around him that will pick him up."

Button, 31, played down the depiction of the British media that - with Red Bull's Vettel surely headed for the title - the real point of interest now is which McLaren driver wins the internal team battle.

"For us the important thing is to work together until the end of the year.  If people try to turn us against each other ...

"My aim is to get more points than anyone over the last nine races," admitted Button.

He answered "I don't know" when asked if it is his increasingly comfortable position within F1 and McLaren that has rattled Hamilton.

"I am definitely driving well at the moment," said Button.

"When I talk to Lewis, I don't think he has changed the way he drives or anything."

(GMM)

Antics could cost Hamilton McLaren seat - Herbert

Lewis Hamilton's constant trouble could eventually cost him his seat at McLaren.

That is the warning of former Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert, as Hamilton's critics round on him following the latest run-in in Singapore.

Herbert, now an occasional F1 steward, sided with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who physically grabbed his 2008 title nemesis after their clash on Sunday.

"The Brazilian had every right to be angry with him after the race", the 47-year-old former Sauber and Jaguar driver wrote in his column for The National.

Herbert referred to recent speculation about Hamilton's future beyond his current McLaren contract, warning that his options might dry up if he continues to crash.

"I am sure McLaren would want to keep him, but their loyalty might start wavering if he keeps making such costly errors," he said.

Four-time world champion Alain Prost told the French sports daily L'Equipe that he thinks Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are currently better drivers than Hamilton.

"He is too aggressive," said the famous Frenchman. "He should have his manager try to calm him a little, because he is spoiling an incredible talent."

(GMM)

Vettel climbing all-time F1 winner's list

During his meteoric 2011 season, double champion-elect Sebastian Vettel has quietly climbed the list of all-time greats.

Before the season began, the young German was 29th on the all-time winner's list with his ten victories, alongside Gerhard Berger and James Hunt.

After Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, his career tally has grown to 19 -- one more than his friend Kimi Raikkonen.

Also now left in 24-year-old Vettel's wake are the famous Stirling Moss (16 wins), Lewis Hamilton (16), Jack Brabham (14), Graham Hill (14), Emerson Fittipaldi (14), David Coulthard (13), Jacques Villeneuve (11) and others.

And the next to fall will be Mika Hakkinen's tally of 20 career wins.

"It's not really my objective but it's incredible news in a way, because obviously everyone knows drivers like Kimi and Mika," said Vettel.

After Hakkinen, he will be knocking on the door of the all-time top ten, although Michael Schumacher holds the record with an incredible tally of 91 wins.

"(That) record is far, far away," Vettel said.  "A long way to go but I'm very happy at the moment."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, with 27 wins in his pocket, has been impressed in 2011 not only by Vettel but the superiority of the Red Bull car.

"I don't know how often you will see another car in pole position 14 times out of 14," he is quoted by La Stampa newspaper.  "It's incredible.

"They are too strong," Auto Motor und Sport quotes the Spaniard as saying. "We have to keep calm and set the course for 2012."

(GMM)

F1 drivers 'disconnected' with 'sense of risk' - Prost

Alain Prost has admitted he was amazed when he tuned in on television to recent Grands Prix.

The four-time world champion recently tested the Renault with which he contested the 1983 season, and said it was an eye-opener in contrast to the sport's most recent races.

"I wonder now if the drivers are not too disconnected with a sense of risk," Prost told the French sports daily L'Equipe.

"In Belgium and Italy they seemed to be taking risks in the strangest places. When Webber overtook Alonso at Spa ... honestly. And the same with the pass of Vettel at Monza, with two wheels on the grass.

"You can get away with these things nine times, but the tenth... I'd like to see them drive my car of 1983, just so they realise what they are doing," he added.

56-year-old Prost, who said becoming a team owner is the biggest regret of his career, said he would be "very frustrated" if he was a driver in today's era.

"The driver was always important but it's not the same now," said the Frenchman. "You can see it in the gaps between the teammates - sometimes it is a tenth now where in the past it could be a second or nearly two."

Prost is also critical of Michael Schumacher's return to F1.

"If the goal was to return to be world champion, then it was ridiculous," he said. "If instead he said he was doing it to help Mercedes and Rosberg, then at least it might be seen as a noble gesture."

(GMM)

Ecclestone not ruling out Turkey return - report

Bernie Ecclestone has not ruled out reinstating the Turkish Grand Prix on future F1 calendars, a local newspaper reports this week.

We reported this week that the Istanbul circuit, the scene of seven Grands Prix since 2005 but not on next year's schedule, is on standby in the event Bahrain needs to be cancelled again.

And the Turkish Hurriyet daily reports that F1 chief executive Ecclestone "has expressed hope that F1 management will agree with Turkish authorities to hold the races in the country again".

Turkey, a popular layout whose races were poorly attended, was dropped from the calendar apparently because organisers refused to pay a higher race sanctioning fee.

"It is very sad but we have to deal with some changes in Formula One sometimes," said Renault team boss Eric Boullier, "and we can just hope that we will be back there."

It was rumoured in Singapore last weekend that team bosses are concerned about the ever-expanding and more arduous F1 calendars.

"The calendar has 20 races next year," said Virgin president Graeme Lowdon, "and 21 would have been too many and so the reality is that there had to be some give somewhere."

(GMM)

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