Jenson Button’s Impressions of The British GP
Jul 09, 2008
Honda Racing F1
Question: What do you associate with this (silverstone) circuit?
Jenson Button: I associate it with being my home Grand Prix and secondly that it is one of the old tracks - just like Spa. It is a real driver’s track where driving is pure fun. Becketts is one of the best formations of corners where you really can show what you are made of. And then the crowd - all the fans are so enthusiastic! It is always a special weekend for me.
Question: Do you enjoy entertaining friends and family during a race weekend?
Jenson Button: On a race weekend there is never really time to entertain friends and family as every day is packed full of action and commitments. But friends and family know that, so when they come to a race it is because they like racing and they like to see me driving. They understand that I am doing my job and that it takes priority.
Question: Do you get the chance to go out and socialize on Friday and Saturday night?
Jenson Button: If I socialize then it’s usually on a Saturday evening because on Friday I usually stay quite long at the track to speak with the engineers because it’s the day when you can still change something on the car. When I leave the track I just have a quick dinner and go to sleep.
Question: Any drivers you particularly like hanging out with?
Jenson Button: With DC (David Coulthard) - I’m still upset that he announced his retirement. It’s basically the ‘motorhome guys’ - a small community at the Europeans races. But I also get along very well with Rubens (Barrichello) and Nico (Rosberg).
Question: If things don’t go your way and you retire early, do you prefer to get away as soon as possible, or hang out and watch the rest of the race?
Jenson Button: I always stay until the end of the race to do the debrief with the engineers, because unless you retire in the first lap you still have a lot of valuable information for the technical guys.
