Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button fears Suzuka repeat in Sochi race

Jenson Button admits he is expecting to face real difficulty defending from cars behind him in the Russian Grand Prix.

Both Button and team-mate Fernando Alonso were passed with ease during the Japanese Grand Prix a fortnight ago, prompting Alonso's "GP2 engine" outburst, while Button described himself as a Samurai without his sword and armour.

Having qualified in 13th place, Button will be racing in the pack on the opening laps and he's wary there could be a repeat situation as the Honda ERS inadequacies are highlighted in race trim.

"Unless Fernando gets a very good start, I think it is more of a problem for me and it will be an issue," Button said. "Whatever we do on lap one can be undone very easily. It’s tough in that situation – we are both very emotional and passionate about racing and we want to do all we can, even if it’s fighting for 13^th.

"You want to do all you can to keep the cars behind you so we will do all we can and use everything in the right way in terms of deployment and what have you.

"[It will be] a tough day and it’s definitely not going to be any easier than Suzuka so we will do our best and see where we end up. It’s not going to come down to strategy as it’s unlikely that people are going to be doing a great number of stops."

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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.