GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Q&A with McLaren’s Jenson Button

Q&A with McLaren’s Jenson Button

Friday’s Silverstone running was a bit inconclusive for everybody and the two McLaren drivers were no exception. Whether their new rear wing will be the part that helps them close the gap to Red Bull remains a question mark. Jenson Button was rather more into the new design of the Silverstone paddock and the fact that motor racing is a very British passion…

Q: Since the great British summertime has welcomed us today, did you have the chance to evaluate anything significant in today’s two sessions?

Jenson Button: No, not really, as it was a bit of frustrating today. It dried out after P1, and it was nice to drive P2. We did a bit of running in the wet and it was surprisingly slippery on the inter tyre. We did not run on the extreme wet though. The slipperiness might be due to the road change, but I’m not sure, and I hope we will not have to find it out tomorrow. In the morning the balance was good, and in the afternoon we struggled a bit with it. It will not rain at the race on Sunday, so we will see where we are with the car tomorrow.

Q: Lewis had the new rear wing on his car this morning. Was there anything that he told you about it that you could have referred to during the afternoon session?

JB: I haven’t really tested it, as when you are on wet tyres you cannot use DRS. So we don’t know if it gives us anything more than we had with our previous wing. Also I am not sure whether we will be running it tomorrow.

Q: What do you think about the new pits complex and the garages here at Silverstone?

JB: The new garages are quite big and they have done a great job with the facilities. The only problem maybe is that when you are in the pit lane you cannot see the fans, and they cannot see us. As we have done well last year amongst the constructors we are at a spot where it is impossible to be seen by the fans, so either we do much worse this year, or else we turn the pit lane around. The actual reason for this is that our end of the pit lane is sunken, as the circuit goes up down the straight and rises up the hill, so we are somehow below the circuit. Also I think the exit and the entry to the pit lane is very interesting, and in the wet is very slippery. In the dry it will add a lot to the circuit, as also there are corners where you can lose a lot of time.

Q: Why would you say that there are so many great British drivers in Formula One?

JB: Motorsport is very British, if you like. We had the first Grand Prix circuit here in Silverstone and we have a lot of British Formula One teams. Even if the name of a team is not very British, or the owner is not British, many of the team personnel are British. So it is a great place to grow up and start racing here. Young talents come from all over the world to start racing in different championships here. Every decade we had some great champions if you look back in history, for example Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill. So British drivers have achieved a lot in motorsport, so there is a lot of experience that we have.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)