Hamilton vs Button: Who will win the battle of the McLarens?

Hamilton vs Button: Who will win the battle of the McLarens? | 2011 F1 season

Hamilton vs Button: Who will win the battle of the McLarens? | 2011 F1 season:

Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, McLaren, Singapore, 2011

Lewis Hamilton bounced back from a five-race losing streak against team mate Jenson Button in the Korean Grand Prix.
Hamilton has never been beaten by a team mate over
the course of a season, but is 26 points behind Button with three races to go.
Who will come out on top?

Lewis Hamilton: Down but not out

The reasons for Hamilton’s recent troubles have been much speculated on. Whatever the root cause, he’s had several poor results this year.
While his qualifying pace has tended to be better than Button’s, at times he’s struggled to get good life from his tyres in the races. Frustration in the races has led to costly collisions and penalties.
Hamilton went into the Korean Grand Prix weekend having been beaten by Button in the five previous races. He bounced back, becoming the first driver to beat Red Bull to pole position.
He wasn’t able to convert that into victory in the race, but was able to take his first pole position since his German Grand Prix win.
It’s been a season of extreme highs and lows for Hamilton. He needs more of the former and less of the latter in the final three races to safeguard his record of never losing to a team mate in F1.

Jenson Button: His best season yet?

When Button arrived at McLaren in 2010, even with the number one on his car, he was widely expected to come out second best, taking on Hamilton at the team he’d made his own.
That was the case last year. But in 2011 Button has gained much credit – perhaps more than he got for winning the 2009 title – for taking on and often beating Hamilton with equal equipment.
As usual he’s excelled in wet/dry races, taking a pair of excellent wins in Canada and Hungary. But his third win in Japan was something else – proof that he could take on and beat Red Bull in dry conditions.
Had it not been for his enforced retirements at Silverstone and Hockenheim – neither of which were his fault – he would be even further ahead of Hamilton.
Can he hold on and become the first of Hamilton’s team mates to inflict defeat on him in F1?
Or was Hamilton’s drive in Korea the first sign of a late-season surge?
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