Britain: Jenson Button in the Fastest Three

By Phil Huff
July 9 2005

Lucky Strike BAR Honda's Jenson Button sat through the Fastest Three press conference today, answering questions on his pace, the McLarens, his future, and more. Here's what he had to say.

Jenson, here we are at the British Grand Prix and you are on the front row.

Yeah, it is a great feeling. We didn't quite expect it, so it's fantastic to be at the front and I think we can do some pretty good things from there.

Everyone wants to know, what do you think you can actually do. It looked to be a little bit down in the first sector there but very quick relative to the Renaults in sectors two and three.

We struggled a bit through Becketts and Copse, so that is a bit of a worry for the race, but apart from that the car has been working very well, in low speed corners and the other high speed corners. It is nice to be in this position to be able to fight with the Renaults and McLarens because we have had a pretty tough time of it and it can only get better from there.

And the British crowd behind you, as they will be tomorrow?

Yeah, it is great to have so many fans here. There is only one time this year I have seen a crowd like this and that was in Barcelona, so it is great to see so many fans here, not just British but from around the world, so hopefully we can put on a good show for them and I am sure we can do that.

Front row of the grid is obviously great, what are the chances?

It obviously helps us. It is disappointing for him [Raikkonen] I'm sure, but it does help us. I think our race pace here is better than it was in Magny-Cours, so I think we have a chance of staying closer to the Renaults and hopefully the McLarens. So we're looking for a good race. For me, I think we have a good strategy as always and we will just wait and see what happens and the way the race pans out.

You played down your prospects here before the start of the weekend, but what chances of a podium now?

There is always a chance, and we are helped by Kimi starting down in 12th. I don't know, we will have to wait and see, but the long-run pace seems reasonable. Just a little bit worried about starting on the dirty side of the grid with Juan Pablo in third, but we'll be OK.

Now the Daily Mirror today says that you're joining Ferrari next year. What comment do you have on that?

Yeah, I read that this morning as well. A nice piece! I can't say anything on my future next year, I'm just living in the moment which is pretty good.

But you won't deny it.

I won't, but I cannot talk about my future next year. That's it. I am not going to say yes or no.

Nigel Mansell always said that the British crowd was worth half a second a lap. Do you think that you might be able to find a little bit extra because it is your home crowd and because they are so desperate for you to succeed?

I wish it was. But Formula One is very different to most sports in the way that if you are running and if you've got more adrenalin pumping you can probably run faster or what have you, but in a Formula One car you have to be so precise, it's not all about sheer power so for me it doesn't make any difference because when you are in the car you are just focussed on driving, in between the two white lines on the circuit, you're not looking around you and you don't really know it's your home Grand Prix when you're driving. It's when you cross the line and you see all the fans, which I have to say have been fantastic here. It's great to see so many fans here. There's only been one other busy Grand Prix like this on a Saturday and that was Barcelona, so it's nice to see so many people here, on what has obviously been a difficult week in England.

Earlier in the week you were saying at a squeeze you might, might make a podium placing in the Grand Prix. Now that you're second on the grid, would you be disappointed with anything less than a podium?

Yeah, I think I would. I have still got Juan in third position, just behind me, so that is not going to be easy. We are going to have to give everything and if we make one single mistake we won't have that podium. But there's a possibility. We are all very excited about the race tomorrow. We think we have a good strategy and I think we can have some fun.

All week you've been telling us that you haven't got a hope in hell here. Do you think you can win and what has changed in the state of seven days? What has the team done to the car to get you to this position?

Nothing. We haven't changed the car since Magny-Cours. We turned up here with a very good balance already and we haven't really made that many set-up changes all week. We've been suffering with a little bit of understeer in high speed corners, which I don't think we've quite got to the bottom of. The actual car itself is no different than what we had in Magny Cours so maybe it's just that our car suits this circuit or maybe it's that half a second that Nigel always says that makes the difference.

Starting from second on the grid, do you appreciate you have probably raised the hopes and expectations of the fans even more and is that something you're ready to shoulder, bear the responsibility?

Yeah, definitely. I was trying to talk our performance down a little bit before the weekend and I still have the same views that in the race that the McLaren will be very strong. I hope we can have a good race, that is obviously our aim, we have a better car here than we probably have had all year. So yeah, I'm hoping that we can have a good result and I hope that nobody will be disappointed in what we do this weekend.