Germany: Jenson in the podium press conference

By Phil Huff (25/07/2004)
July 25 2004

His seventh podium of the year, so Lucky Strike BAR Honda's Jenson Button has to face the Podium Press Conference. Here's what he had to say.

Jenson, a great drive. I guess it is a complement that Michael thought you were on a two-stop race at one point?

The car has been working great all weekend. It is difficult because I am so happy to have finished second and for me it was the best drive of my career and I had the best car underneath me. You know the car performed fantastically and also the engine. But it's slightly disappointing that if I had started third it could have been a different story, there could have been a lot more pressure on Michael which I would have enjoyed very much. But that's not to be - we've got to wait for that. But all in all, it's a fantastic result and I've got to say a big thank you to the team.

You actually led the race as early as lap 13. Can you talk us through that early stage?

Sure, the first lap I initially got a good start and then I got stuck behind Taku at turn one, on the outside, and I lost a lot of places. I think I ended up the first lap in 13th still and then just worked my way up a little bit and then after the first stop the team did a fantastic job and I came out in fifth or sixth or something, so I'm very happy.

And a brilliant race with Fernando Alonso.

Yeah, we had a good little tussle. He's not the easiest guy to overtake but he's very fair and I enjoyed it.

We saw you on the camera playing with your helmet quite a lot on the side there. What was the problem?

The team initially thought it was a visor but it wasn't, it was the strap under the helmet was a little bit loose and the problem is then that when the helmet is loose it lifts up slightly and it was really catching on my throat and it made it really very difficult to breathe so I had to hold it on every straight to keep it down so that I could get some air in.

You had a tremendous battle with Fernando and tried to overtake a couple of times. Tell us about those dives down the inside and the outside as well?

Well, Fernando had very good traction out of turn three so I would lose a bit of time but on the straight I was able to get quite close to him. At the hairpin it is very difficult to know where to go on overtaking. Fernando has put the car on the inside so I went to the outside first and tried to come back on the inside and that didn’t work because he had very good traction and could stay on the outside. I tried it a couple of times, a few different ways, it didn’t work, and then after the pit stop I found myself right behind Fernando again and, erm, I can’t remember what happened! I went down the inside and got the move and I was just holding onto it around the next corner, which is the flat-out right-hander.

I mean that was what it was about, being able to stay on the inside up to there, wasn’t it?

Yeah, it seems here that you make a move and that's not it, you know, it continues for three or four corners, which is great. It makes it more exciting. But it would have been a bit nicer if it was a bit easier!

How close were you coming to the pits with your problem with the helmet?

Not very close. The problem I had was that the strap came a bit loose and when it does that the helmet lifts up and it was slightly choking me. I couldn't breathe very well and it was just more worrying than anything else. I was just slightly pulling it down to get some air in.

After what happened yesterday did you seriously believe you could finish second today?

No, I didn't! I knew we would be quick but I expected probably to be about fifth come the end of the race. This year it has seemed very difficult to come through the field. A few times we have seen people starting low on the grid because of a penalty and they have found it very difficult so I didn't hold too much hope. But it was a fantastic race, it wasn't the best first lap of the year – I didn't actually, I don't think, move forward at all. I tried but I ended up moving back, locking wheels, going off and all sorts, so it made the race very exciting. Yeah, probably for me it was the best race of my career. In one way it is a bit disappointing because if we had started where we qualified we would have had a very good chance of challenging Michael, I think. It is hard to come to terms with that really, but I am sure there are going to be a lot more chances this year.

Did you always intend to stop after all the other guys in the first stint or was did it surprise you how early they pitted?

No, we expected to pit when we did and we thought the other guys would pit around lap 10 or lap 11. So that was the reason why I was so happy after qualifying yesterday. We didn't expect to be third.

It says a lot about your qualifying, as you say. It was a good lap, wasn't it?

Yeah, I mean, we (unclear) when you look at the lap we pitted on. So yeah, the car has been very strong all weekend and the team have done a fantastic job because in the last couple of races we haven't been slow but we haven't had this pace. So, I think we have come through well and we are moving forward.

How confident are you about the next races?

It's really difficult to know how confident to be because we expected to be very quick at Silverstone and, you know, our pace was quite average. It is difficult to know where we stand. I know we have some new parts that maybe we will use in Hungary that will help us and I think that we have made the correct tyre choice for Hungary. I think we have to be quietly confident that we can have a good race.