Malaysia: Button pleased yet pained in press conf.

By Phil Huff
March 20 2006

Yesterday's podium finish for Honda Racing F1's Jenson Button meant he had to sit through the post-race press conference. Despite being happy with third place, he was disappointed at his pace relative to Renault...

Jenson, twelfth straight finish in the points; reliable and third place but the Renaults were hard to beat, obviously.

Very. There was no point in the race, really, where we could have gone any quicker. The only problem we had was Scott Speed, who held me up for a few laps and Fernando was able to jump me at the start, but apart from that, there was nothing else there. That was the maximum I could get out of the car. I was on the limit on every lap, and that's the way it is at the moment. It's good to get on the podium in the second race of the year and I am joint second or third in the championship now so it's not too bad but we've got a bit of work to do.

What areas, particularly, do Renault have the advantage over you at the moment, do you think?

It's very difficult to say. He pulled away so quickly on the first lap, I couldn't see! But when I get back I will watch the race and I will be able to find out where the places are. But I've got to say thanks to everyone in the team, Honda Racing. It's been a tough weekend for us, Friday was very very difficult but yesterday was a good day and to get a podium today was good but there's still a lot of hard work needed to catch these guys.

Second on the grid, third in the race, is there some disappointment because of that?

Yes, obviously, we want to be winning races and so just being on the podium is disappointing, but I think these two have proved just how quick the Renault is especially around this circuit and that is what we have got to try and achieve and we are just not quick enough at the moment. I did get held up by Scott Speed by quite a big margin, quite a few seconds, just before I had my second stop which cost me a lot of time and maybe that was enough to come out of the pits in front of Fernando, I don't know. But if you look at the full picture, we are just not as quick as the Renaults.

Can the problem be fixed between now and Australia?

Well, we've got obviously testing next and we've got to wait and see. It is a reasonable gap and obviously it is going to be difficult especially because both of them are competitive and doing a good job.

But the encouraging thing is that you are quicker than the others?

Yes, I finished 30 seconds ahead of the next car and some of that's down to Fernando holding them up at the beginning, but even so, even so it is just the Renaults that are very quick and seem to have the edge over us so we've got to hope we can solve the issues we've got next week and move forward because they need somebody to challenge them.

This is the second round of the championship and your team-mate who came from the winning team is in your bag in qualification and in the race. What is going on, in your opinion?

That's a difficult one. I think that the way the car works doesn't suit his style and he's taken a little bit of time to get used to it and the strange thing is that over the winter he was very competitive and it seems that when the conditions are hotter he is struggling a bit more with the car and it shows that the car is not where we wanted it to be or where we expected it to be for these first two races of the season and it shows we need to make steps forward in a couple of places.

The lap times of your car look comparable to the Renaults, but there seems to be a little bit of a performance disadvantage. Can you explain where you think you are missing out?

I was asked this before and it is difficult to say because I wasn't close enough to Fisi. After one lap he had a gap on me so it's very difficult, but I will sit down with the engineers this afternoon and look through the race and see where I am losing. I've got an idea but I will keep that to myself for now.

Do you think there is anybody in Melbourne who can beat the Renaults?

That's a tough question. We have to wait and see. We can't say anything yet. The pace of the Renaults is very good and at the moment, it looks like we are the closest rivals but we are still not quite on their pace. But it is also a very different circuit, Melbourne, to here. So wait and see. I think Ferrari will be there. The conditions are going to be cooler and maybe it will help them out a little bit, but hopefully were not going to let them get away with the points they have already. We need to push as hard as we can to make this championship exciting.