Jenson Button sat down with the media this afternoon and as usual gave a well-considered analysis of where he stands relative to the opposition. Jenson is clearly thinking a lot about all aspects of the rival teams, as is normal, but what is good is that he is prepared to share his thoughts with the media in a considered way.
He will need another hand to count wins soon
“I think that the Red Bulls should work quite well here,” he said. “The car that they had in Barcelona, if they brought that here they would be competitive. We’ll have to see if their diffuser makes a difference on this circuit. But they’re expected to be competitive and I think they will be.
“If you look at the times in the races previous to Monaco, they were very competitive. You could say that they have been as quick as us; they just haven’t got it together over the race weekends. You can’t blame KERS cars, I think strategy is important, and a few other things. They haven’t had race wins, but I think they’re quick enough to fight with us for sure.
“The Ferraris will be quick here too. I think they’ve made up ground at every race and they performed very well, especially in Monaco. You can say it’s a different type of circuit, but there’s a lot of slow speed here and they’ve got KERS for the drag up the hill, which should help them quite a bit. So those two teams will be strong.
“McLaren I think will be quick for most of the circuit but I think they’ll struggle so much with Turn 8 that maybe they won’t be there over a lap time. And Toyota maybe will be competitive because they’ve reverted to a previous aero package and they’ll be quite good at a circuit like this.
“If you look through all the data of every race we’ve done their lap times are as competitive as us, certain teams, it’s just that we’ve done a better job than them. They will get it right, just not too often hopefully.”
Button says that Turkey will not favour Red Bull as much as Silverstone, which has more high speed corners, where the RB5 excels. In Istanbul there are long straights and low speed corners, with only the infamous Turn 8 the one where the RBR will stretch its legs.
“If you look at Barcelona, the two high speed corners, they were taking one and a half to two tenths out of us in each, which is massive. Everyone thinks our car must be amazing in the high speed, but it’s not compared to the Red Bull. It’s an area we have to work on. Turn 8 is a long corner and it can damage your tyres.”
Button believes that he stands to lose time to Red Bull turn 8, but believes that the new parts on the front wing might help him find a bit more performance in that iconic corner, if he can dial it in well.
Meanwhile Fernando Alonso said that he feels that Button is able to drive with something in hand, that he has not had to push at all times. According to Alonso the Brawn car has no weak points,
“It is the best car, there is no doubt. It’s very good aerodynamically, it’s very good mechanically, with good grip, because they can really attack the kerbs, ” he said. “They have a very strong car, they have finished all the races with both cars.
“They have very good starts, so there’s no weak point at the moment. It’s very difficult to beat them because it’s difficult to find that weak point. They are the best in every area so that’s quite impressive.”
He rather gloomily added that he thinks Button could wrap up the title by round 12 or 13.
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Excellent stuff from Jenson. It’s nice to read the thoughts of someone who’s honest about himself and the people around him, doesn’t give fans false hope and just gets on with things.
I think Button needs to watch Massa really carefully. He’s better at istanbul than he is at Interlagos, and that means beating anyone.
Button’s driving like a god, but on this track, Massa will put him in his place.
Although to be honest I could do with a little less of the “it’ll be a struggle to keep up with the Red Bulls/Ferraris/Toyotas” every race. It’s like post-race Mansellisms pre-race.
He’s in a no win situation with some folk. If he says he’ll win easily people would call him arrogant, if he says he’s worried about other cars he’ll still get grief. What do you want the bloke to say?
In all honesty I think his assessment is fair, the Red Bulls and Ferraris are very close to the Brawn cars, faster at some tracks in-fact.
I think although Vettel is quick, the tyre management by Button will see him on the podium again this Sunday.
Jenson needs to take it one race at a time and not worry about what the opposition are doing. Ferrari in the next 2 races will be winning races and there will come a point where he will just have to settle for third and fourth places, abit like fernando alonso did to win his championships.
Disagree with with Ged completely, there is no comparison with Mansell in personality or racing style for that matter.
I have never witnessed a ‘chalk and cheese’ scenario that is so perfect in all aspects.
The honest, mature, detailed, open analysis is refreshing and I hope he keeps it up even when or if the pressure bites.
Ross has utilized the Honda resources and dealt with their pull-out brilliantly so it is difficult to moan about Adrian missing his chance. Hopefully Redbull can string a handful of wins together to make the fight closer.
Ross has utilised the available resources team wide and Adrian has delivered an awesome car for Redbull to use and that is the fundamental difference I’m afraid.
Button talking about Red Bull:
“they were very competitive”
“they just haven’t got it together over the race weekends.”
“You can’t blame KERS cars”
Indeed. Red Bull should stop with the blame shifting and get their act together.
The team needs to get the strategy right for a change and Vettel needs to try and finish the race and to have a good start for a change.
The Red Bulls have been faster or at least as fast on the 3 races leading up to Monaco. It’s their own fault they haven’t done better than they have. Or the other way around, it’s impressive that Button still managed to beat them in 2 of those races and finish closely behind in the other.
I coudn’t agree more. Vettel is a great talent, no doubt about it, but he should stop moaning about being stuck behind a car and try to overtake….for me it is the only thing missing from his game.
The reason why Hamilton and Alonso are more exiting and champions is they both know how to hang the car out on the apex and catch the slide during an overtake….Webber knows his stuff too, Vettel should take a look and learn from his team mate!
I’m From Warminster and I’m glad Jenson has the car he deserves. Go Jenson Go.
Jenson spouts the same underdog line that he’s said almost every race weekend. “X car looks really strong this weekend, and we have a massive hill to climb to be competitive”. Whether it’s his teammate or Toyota or Bed Bull, the line is the same. I can only think back to the Schumacher era of domination, and how the races are unfolding just as when Ross Brawn was captain of the ship at Ferrari.
Lets see how the Ferrari and Red Bulls tyres stand up to 58 laps of turn 8…..
I think Jenson’s a smart bloke, he won’t be taking any advantage for granted. But Brawn are set to dominate this year in my view.