Malaysian GP: Post Race Interview With Jenson Button

Question: Jenson, I would imagine you will enjoy second place?

Jenson Button: Yeah, it was a really confusing race in a way, trying to understand the pit-stops and whether it was worth looking after tyres or not through the stints. So it was pretty tricky. Then, the last stint, when we put the prime tyre on, the car came alive and I had so much more grip. I had a feeling that the tyre wasn’t going to go the same way as the soft tyre and my pace was much better in the last stint. A fun race. A couple of really good battles. Happy to come away with a second. I had the team telling me to back it off and look after the tyres but in a racer’s mind you want to push as hard as you can as you want to try and catch the leader. Even though it was not really on you have still got to give it a go, so I had a lot of fun out there and great to get 18 points.

Question: The team told you no-one had achieved a 19 lap stint on the prime tyre at any stage this weekend and you did it in your final stint. Give us an indication as to how difficult it is to preserve these tyres.

Jenson Button: Well the thing is it’s very difficult to understand what to do with the tyre. If you try and preserve it sometimes you make the situation worse as you are not carrying as much speed through a high-speed corner and then you get less downforce and you damage the tyre more so it is a very, very tricky situation to be in. But I think we did pretty well. As we went through the race I think we understood the tyre a lot more and our consistency was much, much better with the tyre and we didn’t get down to the canvas so a big thank you to the team. They did a magnificent job today with the pit-stops and the strategy and I think we have made some good progress so, looking forward to China, we should be excited and hopefully we can challenge these guys.

Question: Jenson tell us about the start first of all?

Jenson Button: Well as we all do I have watched the footage from the last five year here and the inside line has always the best into Turn One so it was my aim to get to the inside as quick as possible. I even had a little go at Lewis down the inside and then I heard an almighty racket down the outside and what shall we call you now? ...it was the two Lotus Renault GPs. They had an amazing start, but also the guys did a great job into Turn One. I was in a safe place on the inside but I obviously lost a position to Nick. Then we got underway and I realised I had been very conservative with my front wing angle. I think we are all trying to look after the tyres and I backed out too much front wing and I was really struggling at the front end. Sometimes that can also cause degradation of the rear as you have to put in so much steering lock and then when you get on the power with steering lock it causes oversteer. That was why my first stint was not very good, then every stint from then on I improved. A good day. Good points, an exciting race I am sure to watch. I don’t think anyone really knew who was going to finish behind Seb and nice to get 18 points on the board.

Question: And you had the Ferraris behind you at the end of that first stint. How close were they and did that precipitate your pit-stop?

Jenson Button: With these tyres as soon as they go, they go. It is what they are supposed to do and it is exactly what they do do. As I said I had the wrong balance on the first stint and I thought that the rears would be okay but they went off a lot earlier than I expected. I didn’t expect the Ferraris and the Lotus Renault GP to be as consistent as they were and our degradation was bigger so made a few set-up changes in the stops and improved from there. But a big thanks to the guys. They made some really good calls in the pit-stop. The first race of the season we had a good race and this is again a step forward in terms of performance in qualifying and the race. We’ve just got to hope it keeps happening as we can’t let the Red Bulls have it their own way for much longer. Our aim is to challenge these guys, but it is not easy. They are very, very fast.

Question: How hard did you push to try and jump Lewis, or did that just happen?

Jenson Button: He had a long stop, but obviously I also wanted to jump him, because on my third stint of the race, I was behind him, and I felt I could have gone quicker, and I think on the last stint I really felt good on the prime tyre and I could pull out a really big gap on the rest of the field, and try to chase down Seb, but he was just too quick, but I had to have a go.

Question: Formula One is a little difficult to understand. In qualifying, some teams are one second slower than in race conditions where everyone is together. Can you comment on that?

Jenson Button: Yes, I totally agree. We’re all trying to find a pace that we think is right for consistency but also speed, and it’s very tricky to find that balance. I was a little bit surprised, personally, in the first stint, how quick the Lotus Renaults were, and, also, I was surprised by the Ferraris. But I got a bit more of a handle on it in the second and third stints and I think we had pretty good pace.

Question: Jenson, you and Lewis had different strategies with the tyres, he went onto the hard tyres earlier than you. Was there any reason for that?

Jenson Button: I think it was the preference of the tyres after qualifying. I think he flat-spotted a tyre in qualifying and that meant that he would run on the prime tyre. I don’t know what we feel now, but before the race we felt that the tyres were very, very similar in terms of pace, but also in terms of the degradation, which was very surprising. For me, strangely, I had a much better balance with the prime and I was quicker on the prime compared to everyone. So it worked for me, but maybe that was just the balance I had on the car.

Question: Do you think high degradation tyres have really brought more show to F1, because it looked very confusing and somehow messy for the spectators. And secondly, especially to Jenson and Nick, do you think that Sebastian Vettel will be the man to beat this year, to become World Champion?

Jenson Button: At this moment in time, yes, is the answer, I concur with you regarding Sebastian being the person to beat. He’s got a 24-point lead and that’s a lot after two races, but there are still another 17 to go, maybe 18.

I know everything. You should be careful, right! Of course, the Red Bulls’ pace is very good. He’s won two races out of two and nobody else has been consistent, first off. I think in terms of pace we, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team are the second best but I think we need to find some improvements. That’s in the pipeline. It’s exciting for us that we’ve made some good improvements already and hopefully in China we can make a really good race of it. From what I heard, the race was pretty good. There were people all over the place which is good, isn’t it? Was it better or not? I was in the car, I don’t know. It is complicated, and I think at this point of the season it’s going to be because there’s a lot that we’re trying to learn ourselves on the circuit. If we had one tyre for the whole race and didn’t have pit stops, would it be exciting? I don’t know. I think that it’s the correct thing to do, to make the tyres that they have and I think Pirelli have done a great job of actually getting tyres that have degradation in the time that they’ve had to build these tyres. I think that in the time they’ve had to build these tyres they’ve done a very good job. I think it made the racing exciting today. For me, I didn’t know who was going to finish behind Seb. I did in the end, which is great. I think it’s working well and I think that as the season goes on we will realise and understand the tyres a little bit more every race. The races will calm down, but hopefully not too much. Hopefully, they will still be exciting.

Question: Jenson, Sebastian has spoken about the season ahead. How important was it for you to kick start your championship push here and be the man chasing Sebastian?

Jenson Button: Yes, it was very important. The first race didn’t really go my way. It was a frustrating race and I made a mistake and got a drive-through for it and had to find my way back through. So, it was just one of those races really. But the pace of the car was very good, I was happy with the performance and in the race also. So, I came here looking for a good result and until the last lap I was still trying to fight for the victory. I know it was a long shot but you’ve got to give it a go. I’m happy to take away 18 points. It gives me confidence not just to come away with second place, but the feeling of the car is good. We need to improve, but the feeling of the car is good and that’s important to me. We’ve only got a few days before the next race, but we’re doing everything we can to make the small improvements and the details that we can and hopefully have a better race in China.

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