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Formula 1
F1: Button Frustrated By Lack Of Pace
McLaren driver struggled with car that lacked speed...
McLaren Mercedes' British driver Jenson Button drives during at the Yas Marina circuit on November 4, 2012 in Abu Dhabi during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix. (Photo: Getty Images)
Jenson Button admits he wasn’t quick enough to keep Sebastian Vettel behind in the closing stages of the Abu Dhabi GP.
Running on relatively fresh option tires Vettel stole third place off the McLaren driver, who was on older prime tires. But even without the tire differential Button was struggling.
“I just didn’t have the pace really, especially at the end there when Vettel was on brand new tires,” he said. “His traction is far better, so I think it would have been quite embarrassing if he couldn’t get past me. It was a good fight, it was a good battle.
“It was always going to be difficult as he was on brand new option tires. It was tricky, and they’ve obviously geared the car for the race, because he started in the pitlane. It was very tough. The pace wasn’t there for much of the race anyway, just didn’t have the speed really.
“For quite a few laps I was judging the KERS and trying my hardest when he had the DRS open to keep him behind. He did a good move round the outside. I could have run wide, and we would have touched, but it’s not right really.
“It was very brave of him, really. If I’d locked up and run wide, we would have crashed. It was a very unusual move, I didn’t expect that.
“I had a couple of good battles out there with (Mark) Webber and (Fernando) Alonso and also (Pastor) Maldonado. It was good fun with Maldonado, I enjoyed that. It was a fun race for a race that can be sometimes a bit of a procession.”
Meanwhile Button is looking forward to the next race in Austin.
“Hopefully I can find a bit more pace, because obviously the car is working as Lewis has been very quick all weekend, and my race pace is something that is normally pretty good. We’ll go and have a look at why that is. Hopefully we can sort it out for Austin.
“I haven’t driven the circuit yet [on the simulator], I’ll be doing that this week when I get back to the UK. It looks exciting, it looks pretty fast, and also being in the States it’s great for the sport, which is quite a vibrant, young city. Hopefully it will attract a lot of youth to the sport, not just spectators, but people who are interested in being involved in the sport.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Running on relatively fresh option tires Vettel stole third place off the McLaren driver, who was on older prime tires. But even without the tire differential Button was struggling.
“I just didn’t have the pace really, especially at the end there when Vettel was on brand new tires,” he said. “His traction is far better, so I think it would have been quite embarrassing if he couldn’t get past me. It was a good fight, it was a good battle.
“It was always going to be difficult as he was on brand new option tires. It was tricky, and they’ve obviously geared the car for the race, because he started in the pitlane. It was very tough. The pace wasn’t there for much of the race anyway, just didn’t have the speed really.
“For quite a few laps I was judging the KERS and trying my hardest when he had the DRS open to keep him behind. He did a good move round the outside. I could have run wide, and we would have touched, but it’s not right really.
“It was very brave of him, really. If I’d locked up and run wide, we would have crashed. It was a very unusual move, I didn’t expect that.
“I had a couple of good battles out there with (Mark) Webber and (Fernando) Alonso and also (Pastor) Maldonado. It was good fun with Maldonado, I enjoyed that. It was a fun race for a race that can be sometimes a bit of a procession.”
Meanwhile Button is looking forward to the next race in Austin.
“Hopefully I can find a bit more pace, because obviously the car is working as Lewis has been very quick all weekend, and my race pace is something that is normally pretty good. We’ll go and have a look at why that is. Hopefully we can sort it out for Austin.
“I haven’t driven the circuit yet [on the simulator], I’ll be doing that this week when I get back to the UK. It looks exciting, it looks pretty fast, and also being in the States it’s great for the sport, which is quite a vibrant, young city. Hopefully it will attract a lot of youth to the sport, not just spectators, but people who are interested in being involved in the sport.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
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