Jenson Button says car-setup caused his slump in the current season – Formula 1 news
Jenson Button has said that his slump in the current season was due to the blind alley set-up.
Button added that he had to go back to the basics on his setup and focussing a lot on his driving style in order to adapt to the Pirelli tyres was key to his return to form.
Button won the opening race of the season at Australia and early assumptions were that the Brit would be a favourite in the season to top the standings, but since his win Button lost his way and pace.
Earlier in the season, he failed to understand why he was not able to generate the pace the McLaren car had the potential of while his teammate Lewis Hamilton kept on improving.
Button later revealed that he was having trouble with the Pirelli compounds and has not been able to adapt to them. Button was struggling to even qualify in the top ten. He scored just seven points in the six races between his second place finishes in China
and Germany.
Button has revealed that he got his personal breakthrough at Valencia but it was not until the team introduced the upgrade package at the German Grand Prix that he was able to leave his issues behind him.
“From Valencia and the British Grand Prix I was confident in the car and felt like I was doing a good job, we just didn't have the pace as a team,” he said. “Previous to that, it was more that we were trying new things with the car, and they definitely didn't
work, and I wasn't happy with the balance.”
“The worst races for me were Monaco and Canada. That was difficult, but when you've been racing for as long as I have, you know there are reasons for you not being on the pace, and I think we've solved a lot of those issues,” he added.
Button has still got a lot of hard work to do if he wants to challenge for the top honours of the season. It will be interesting to see how the Brit fares as the season progresses.
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