Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button fighting disappointment after P18

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Jenson Button admits he was unhappy after qualifying 18th for the British Grand Prix but is fighting to stay positive in order to help McLaren improve.

The 2009 world champion has never finished on the podium at his home race and was unable to make it out of Q1 at Silverstone on Saturday. While realistic about McLaren’s chances at the high speed circuit, Button admits he had been going in to the weekend hoping to at least make it in to the second part of qualifying in order to give his home crowd something to cheer.

“It wasn’t the highlight of the year,” Button said. “It’s all relative I suppose but in front of the home crowd you always want to have a great weekend. I think the fans understand the position we’ve been in for the whole season but when it comes to the home grand prix I think everyone gets a little bit more excited and we hope for more.

“It was always going to be difficult this weekend with the style of circuit, but I hoped for more and thought we could get in to Q2. That was before the weekend - before we drove here - but over the weekend we have improved the car a lot in terms of understanding the set-up for a circuit like this aerodynamically but we’re still a long way away. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day because today wasn’t a great day.”

And Button admits it has been tough for him to keep his spirits high as the McLaren difficulties continue.

“We all fight to keep the smile … it’s a difficult position for all of us. I have really crappy days, like all of us, and moments when I’m not happy. After qualifying was one of them, but there’s no point being down now because that’s not going to help us improve. It’s about giving good feedback and trying to make the most of every situation. Smiling is better than frowning.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.