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Jenson Button finally made his debut at COTA, finishing the race in 18th place. Button was not on the motorsport scene for a long time, so the whole story seemed a bit unusual. Button is a man who likes challenges, and we have no doubt that he will adapt quickly.
"I had to take a while to learn the racecraft, and I hadn't raced for three years either, and I've never hit a car - intentionally - and then after the first stint, when I changed tyres, I was like, 'Guys put me in clear air, I need some laps on my own', and they did, they did a really good job on the pit stop and I was able to run clear.
I really enjoyed it and the pace was good. And then on the next stint I'd had a whack from Kimi [Raikkonen] and it just felt so oversteery, I just went backwards, and I also had heat exhaustion. I was like 'guys, I have to stop', it was that bad”.
Jenson Button on his experience
Although he was prepared for some things, Button was surprised by the way his colleagues drove. Obviously, NASCAR is not what he is used to. "You get to Turn 1 and everyone is in the way. People are braking later than me and they just hit a car and use that to slow down!
That was the thing for me. It's just, I have to say, I enjoyed the race, I'd say 60% of it; 40% of it kind of felt a bit silly, the amount that we were hitting each other. In Turn 1… I would turn in and get whacked. Luckily it didn't spin me round and on the exit I got a big whack back.
The revenge is enjoyable but there's points where it feels that we could do better. I mean the action's amazing, don't get me wrong, I have to give it to these guys. The first 10 laps, it just destroyed me… every time I was in a corner I had someone overtaking me”.
