Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button hoping for the best at his 'other' home track

Silverstone might be Jenson Button's actual home race, but the McLaren driver feels just at home at Suzuka, which he calls his favourite track.

"In many ways the Japanese Grand Prix is like another home race for me. I love the country and its people.

"Japan is like a second home for me. My wife is half-Japanese, I spend a lot of time there," he explained. "The country is beautiful and the people are so warm and enthusiastic, you can’t fail to love it.

"Suzuka is the home grand prix for Honda too, so it will be an important weekend for the whole team.

"Suzuka is my favourite track on the calendar without a doubt," he said. "The corners are fast and flowing and a qualifying lap around here feels like nowhere else.

"The thrill of the Esses, the Degners, Spoon, 130R - they are a combination of corners like no other in Formula 1 and for a driver it’s a mega challenge."

That said, the former Formula One world champion isn't all that optimistic that the Japanese Grand Prix will suit the current McLaren specification.

"It’s not going to be an easy race, as the track is so quick and reliant on top speed, but we’ll be giving it our absolute all for the fans."

With speculation that Button is close to calling time on his Formula One career after a deeply disappointing season so far in 2015, the 35-year-old is certainly hoping that things go better than they did last weekend in Singapore where he was forced to retire nine laps from the finish with gearbox issues.

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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.