Apr.5 (PVM) It took a long time for Jenson Button to win his first grand prix, so too his second, but these days the 2009 F1 world champion is a regular on the podium and more often than not a contender for victory – a factor which he believes provides the inspiration necessary to perform for many years to come.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Button said, “When you are able to fight for victories it makes a massive difference, in particular after you have been racing for 12 to 13 years in the sport.”
Six years after his F1 debut, Button scored his first win – at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. He had to wait almost three years for win number two which he duly scored in Australia with Brawn GP in 2009. Since then he has amassed a further 11 victories.
“Because I’m racing for McLaren, it’s a team that has achieved so much in its career in F1. Even if we have an uncompetitive car, you still believe in the future you will get a competitive car,” said Button.
“If we get a bad car over the next couple of years it’s not going to make me think ‘it’s time to give up now’. I’ll still have fight in me and I’ll want to get back to winning ways. But right now, I can’t see a time when I might stop,” said the 32 year old.
After 13 years in F1, Button remains fully committed and motivated, “A lot of people enjoy the sport, but they find it a little bit overpowering. I think Michael [Schumacher] probably found that – and Kimi [Raikkonen] too – that he wanted to spend more time with his family and friends and maybe try something new. But you soon realise that this is where your heart is and that this is what you were born to do, not that we can’t achieve in other things. But when you’ve put so much time, energy and effort into one sport it’s difficult to move on, and I don’t see any reason to move on.”
Button will be starting his 211th grand prix when he lines up on the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.