San Marino: Jenson Button's good weekend

By Phil Huff
April 20 2006

Jenson Button enjoys San Marino, especially following his pole position in 2004 followed by his short-lived podium finish last year. Will 2006 be even better?

"It's good to be back in Europe following the first three races where we were able to achieve a podium position and some points," says Jenson. "I've always really enjoyed racing in Imola. The track has a mixture of different types of corners and a few chicanes and is quite challenging for the drivers. There's always a fun atmosphere and it's a track where I have great memories.

"In 2004 I qualified in pole position here which was my first pole in F1 and finished the race in second place," he adds.

Button has had mixed luck at Imola, with the highs of a podium finish and pole position, but the low of disqualification. In seven starts, he's only failed to finish once, after the BMW engine in his 2000 Williams gave up.

That's something that happened to his Honda unit in Australia, with the team electing to sacrifice three points just before the finish in order to have a fresh engine for this race.

"Obviously we were extremely disappointed with our performance in Australia," he explains. "However we have made good progress in testing and I am confident we will be competitive in Imola.

"Hopefully it should be a good weekend for us."