Button savouring start of European season

With flyaway races to Australia, Bahrain, China and Russia in the books, Jenson Button is delighted to be back 'home' for the start of the European stage of the 2016 Formula One world championship season this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona.

"Everyone loves the start of the European season," he beamed. "I stay on my motorhome, which is always nice, as it’s like a second home: my bed, my fridge, my TV, my box set, so that’s good.

“I’m looking forward to the weekend," he added. "This is a very important circuit for everyone to understand the cars, a lot of focus on aerodynamics and everyone is bringing a lot of new parts – and so are we, so we’ll see how good the car is."

Initially it looked as though the weather would be wet for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix but now the best guess is that will turn out "a bit iffy," leaving Button to take a wait and see approach to the weekend and hoping for an opportunity to show off the McLaren-Honda's latest upgrades.

"This circuit should suit us a bit better," he said. "We’re still aiming for a top ten in qualifying and points on Sunday. We just keep working and keep improving. Every time we drive this car there are some big improvements.

"It’s great to see progress in the team, everybody is working really hard and I think the feedback we’re giving to the team is really good."

The circuit is where Formula One teams come to carry out winter testing, so it's a very familiar venue to drivers, team personnel and media alike so despite suffering from his first cold in five years, Button is making sure that he doesn't miss out on any of the fun to be had around the paddock this weekend.

"I saw Ricciardo up in a motocross track, properly helmeted and everything, and thought he shouldn’t be having all the fun," smiled the dedicated triathlete.

"So I took my 125cc Honda scooter over the jumps and everything, and it’s not the appropriate vehicle for that. It was very muddy, I destroyed my shoes and almost had a whoopsie ... I almost hope someone was filming it! It’s great on the road but not on the mud!"

It remains to be seen what conditions his other company Honda will face come Sunday.

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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.