Question: Jenson, a lot of battles with Mark Webber for you but it looked a bit uncomfortable and did you radio in that you had some KERS problems.
Jenson Button: Yeah, I did. I am not sure if my pace was entirely there on the soft tyres anyway. I think it was about lap 13 or 14. I didn’t have any KERS basically. I had to fend off Webber and also (Felipe) Massa which is also quite interesting without KERS. Then in the next stint I was told what I could do to try and get KERS back, and at least we got it back, but it lasted for like two laps at a time and I had to keep resetting it. The problem is it is not just when you accelerate, it is when you brake. When you have KERS you have a lot of engine braking from the KERS and when you don’t have it you don’t have any braking performance. Every time I arrived at a corner I didn’t know what I was going to get, either engine braking or not, so it was pretty tricky. But coming home and finishing third I am relatively happy.
Question: Jenson, a good third place but were your worst fears about DRS confirmed or was it just compounded by the lack of KERS?
Jenson Button: Yeah. DRS was actually quite good round here, which was a pity for me. I had a couple of good battles out there during the race but it was a lot more difficult by not having KERS for a lot of the race. We found a way of getting the KERS working again but the problem was it would only last for a couple of laps and then it would stop working and there was no warning to tell me it had stopped working so I would just lose all engine braking. It was pretty tricky, so to get to the end and be on the podium, I am pretty happy with that.
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Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Were you surprised at Mark Webber’s tactics?
Jenson Button: Yes, very surprised. I don’t know if they thought that I had the KERS problem for the rest of the race because when I had the KERS problem I was obviously a lot slower and he was pushing me around for 15 laps. As soon as I sorted the problem out, I would go half a second quicker. I don’t know. It was a strange decision to make but they also made a mistake on the first pit stop, I think, which lost them a lot of ground. I think that really hurt him and he wasn’t able to really challenge after that.
Question: Jenson, you’re visiting Ireland next summer for the Dublin F1 street demo on June 3. Are you looking forward to the trip and have you any sightseeing planned? A few pints of Guinness perhaps?
Jenson Button: Wow, I normally don’t plan that far ahead. I’m glad. I actually did know I was going. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. It’s a fun city, I’ve been there a few times before and always had a good time. Yeah, looking forward to the experience, and hopefully [I’ll] have a lot of support there. Looking at all the Tweets that I’ve had about it, there’s a lot of interest so I’m looking forward to it.
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