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Question: Jenson, it wasn’t the best of starts. I don’t know whether you were planning a three stopper or a four-stop strategy. But the three stop worked for you in the end.
Jenson Button: Yeah, my first lap was an absolute disaster. I got a poor start. It didn’t feel too bad but then everyone just came by. I got stuck on the outside of turn one and then turn three. I don’t know where I was but I think I was 11th or 12th after the start. Very, very tricky then, and the guy in front was making it very difficult to overtake. But I was able to pick them off and with a fantastic strategy, I would say this race, we were able to get a podium. It was great fun for me coming through and passing Fernando and Mark when they were on the prime tyres and I was on the option and we made the three-stop work. Two weeks ago it wasn’t the right call, but this week it was and it is good to get some nice points and also to have fought my way through. I really felt like I raced today.
Question: Jenson, looking to you for Monaco and looking back slightly to this race and another battle with Webber and Alonso for so many laps. Can you envisage that being even tighter on the streets of Monaco?
Jenson Button: I don’t think you are going to be having fights like we had out on the circuit in Monaco. There is going to be a lot of tyre degradation as we have got the super soft and the soft tyres there, so it is going to be very tricky for all of us but we are all in the same boat. It will make it fun for sure. But lastly, I need to say a big thank you to the team for the pit stops as well. We have been working on them and this race they were much improved as Lewis would probably say from the last race.
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Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Nips Hamilton to Win at Spanish Grand Prix
Formula 1: Spanish Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Jenson, maybe you were a little bit surprised to be on the podium after the first lap?
Jenson Button: No, the first lap was a disaster. I got a pretty poor start and three or four cars came past and then braking for Turn One I was on the outside of about three cars and I ran wide and the same in Turn Three. It was a frustrating first lap and then initially, I couldn’t overtake the car in front. But once we got up to speed, the pace was good and I was able to make some pretty good overtaking moves. We went for a different strategy to most people which worked very well. I had a lot of fun overtaking Mark and Fernando. They had been fighting for about forty laps, I think, so to come up and overtake them within one lap and then pull away was a lot of fun. It was a fun race - after lap one - and great to get on the podium. I think it really proves how good a job we’ve done with the car but also as a team, through the pit stops and the strategy, so yeah, I’m happy with the result but it would be interesting to see what would have happened if I didn’t have those issues at the start.
Question: And was that three stop strategy planned before the race?
Jenson Button: I couldn’t possibly say. But as soon as I knew we were on that strategy I was happy, looking at what other people were doing. All weekend we’ve been saying that the prime is a tough tyre and it’s a long way off the option tyre so for me to do a three stop was a no-brainer really, and it worked out pretty well in the end.
Question: Jenson, it looks like the result is under investigation because Hamilton and Jenson maybe didn’t respect the yellow flags, didn’t reduce speed as the marshals wanted.
Jenson Button: That’s not something that’s to be talked about here then, is it? But yeah, in a race situation you see yellow flags and you obviously back off. I’m guessing that Lewis did the same.
Question: Jenson, have you any explanation why your car was so much better in the race this time? In Turkey, the difference between qualifying and race performance was not as big as it was today.
Jenson Button: No, I think is the answer on my side. We obviously have upgrades on the car which have helped our performance compared to the cars behind but yeah, to see such a big difference in qualifying, a second to the Red Bull and then see our pace in the race, I was a little bit surprised. And the car felt better than what we experienced on Friday. I think the circuit came to us a little bit and maybe the temperatures helped. But the car was much better today than it has been. For me, it’s got better throughout the weekend which is great.
Question: Jenson, you mentioned the passing of Mark and Alonso; we don’t often see great races here so that was a pretty exciting moment for us, but do you think you caught them by surprise, is that how you got past them? Could you tell us what was the advantage you had?
Jenson Button: Well, I was on the option tyre and they were on the prime. I knew, when I caught them, it was going to be very, very difficult to overtake, because Mark was obviously able to use DRS to overtake Fernando, so when you’re behind a guy that can use DRS it makes it very difficult to overtake, because he’s got the same advantage as you. But I think Mark dropped back a little bit from Fernando and I was able to get in the DRS zone and use DRS and get him into turn one which was a lot of fun, and then I think that with Fernando, I don’t think that he expected me to be able to pull alongside out of Turn Ten. I also saved KERS - I was saving it for the end of the lap and it was the perfect opportunity to get on the power and use KERS and it gave me a little boost up the inside. It was fun to make the move, but I still - as most races this year - I still didn’t know where I was going to end up. I’d taken third place but we were on different strategies so I wasn’t sure where I would end up - but in the end it was a good result.
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