Quote Originally Posted by zako85 View Post
It's a difficult question. Raikkonen's inconsistency is the second biggest story of failure of the year, after Vettel's. On one hand, you can argue that Raikkonen is inferiour because of his performance at Ferrari this year. On the other hand, take a look at what he had done in 2012-2013 seasons. By far, he was probably the most influential, the most likable driver of those seasons. After missing F1 for two seasons, he comes back in 2012 and scores points in every race after the third GP and finishes third in WDC. He did quite well in 2013 up the moment where his relations with Lotus got sore over his unpaid salary and his move to Ferrari. In 2012-2013 seasons, he enjoyed a streak of 17 races between Bahrain 12 and Hungary 13, where he scored points in every race. Plus many podiums, 2 GP wins. Then he goes to Ferrari and he is much slower than Alonso.

The way I see it, there are two issues here. First, Ferrari is a one car team. They all, including the second driver, throw all of their resources behind the car number 1. Remember how many times Massa was used as a canon fodder to benefit Alonso. Second, Alonso is such a great driver he can put nearly everyone to shame. He could have been one of the greatest drivers of all time, and yet he scored only two paltry podium finishes this year. This proves how poor the Ferrari car is this season. So personally, I don't know if Button could have performed better than Raikkonen in the same seat.
If the question is about hiring Button into Ferrari, I have to say I would not be completely confident Button can go well in that "thing". It looks like there are not many drivers, who could tame this difficult car as well or anywhere near as well as Alonso.

Though the situation for 2015 will have slightly changed. The intra-team dynamics change with Vettel joining and Alonso leaving. Plus the first car with proper Technical Director James Allison influence. But I am unsure, how much the car characteristics will be altered with this new design.