There's a lot of polish at the top level, like there is with all athletic competitions. There's the stuff you learn, the techniques, and then there's your natural ability that can't be learned. To a certain degree consider that all the drivers on an F1 grid know the lines you should take, they know where you brake, they know when they should hit the throttle, what gear they should be in, they know everything there is to really know. Some of them are going to be better than others at certain things. Button for example isn't known as a raw pace guy, relative to other F1 drivers. Compared to everyone else in the world he's a raw pace guy, but we're comparing the best to the best. And as you can see in qualifying vs Alonso he's still incredibly good, yet I think most would agree it's not one of his strengths. BUT he's a fantastic racer, wheel to wheel, strategy, changing conditions, knowing when to go for it and when not to... he knows how to get more points. You might have more raw pace than he does, but odds are historically he's still going to beat you in points at the end of the season. Prost was the same way, not the fastest in raw pace, but incredibly intelligent and thinking of a lot of stuff most racers aren't considering.

In the RPG of drivers, different characteristics, some drivers have a knack for manhandling a car without losing momentum - which is incredibly difficult. They aren't as sensitive to certain tracks or setups like other drivers. Sometimes you'll hear a weakness of these drivers is poor development feedback, because they aren't sensitive, they find a way to drive the car quickly whichever way you give it to them. The thing about raw pace drivers is raw pace doesn't win races. It's certainly the best foundation to build on, just like wrestling is the best foundation to build on in MMA, but you need to have a full toolkit. Who cares how quick you are if you make a lot of mistakes, or if you get in a lot of accidents wheel to wheel racing, or you cook your tires a few laps in from driving it too hard then start losing more time than you gained in the initial laps, or you aren't very good at understanding strategy, or how to nurse a car when it's giving you some issues. A lot of times the raw pace guys are able to make it to the top level without polishing other areas of their game as much as the average F1 driver.

I'll leave you with a parting example, I think it was Paddy Lowe who said - and i paraphrase - when Lewis first came into Merc and drove the car they'd had feedback from other drivers that the rear was a bit loose under braking and high speed cornering. Of all things that unnerves a driver you don't want the rear to be loose in those situations, it's terrifying. So, because they'd heard that from their other drivers, they expected to hear the same feedback from Lewis when he gave them his first impressions. Instead he went out, ripped off a few really really quick times, came back and said it felt great. No problem for him. Those types of drivers aren't as sensitive, but that doesn't mean other drivers aren't better in other areas of their game, there are tons of different aspects which make up a driver's toolkit - raw speed is only one of them, albeit the best foundation.