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Button: It feels like a fresh start

An emotional Jenson Button has admitted that his chance to race on in Formula One with Brawn GP feels like a new beginning to his career

The Briton only got confirmation about his 2009 plans at the end of last week, but Brawn GP have made a positive early impression with Button delivering some quick times during a first proper run at Barcelona in Spain on Monday. And although the team face a big effort to get themselves ready for the start of the season, Button has said he feels rejuvenated by the situation he finds himself in.

Speaking for the first time since his F1 career was saved, Button said: "I wouldn't say that in the last few years it all went a little bit stale, but when something happens like that it's like 'Wow!'

"It does become a fresh start and getting into an F1 car makes me feel like a kid again. It's so exciting. It feels like 2000 again but with nine years experience. It's the perfect position to be in.

"I have the hunger to achieve. I'm not the only person that feels like that, it's all of us. Especially having produced a car that I think is competitive and is very different to the last two cars we've produced. So we all feel like kids again and you can see that from the smiles on peoples faces in the team, and that's before we drove the car today.

"There is a great atmosphere, and as I said it has brought us that much closer together, and it is a great team to be part of at the moment."

Although Brawn GP faced a late switch of engines, Button believes that the team's decision to begin developing their 2009 car early last year can still reap rewards - as was shown by the pace of the car at Barcelona.

"There are certain things that are a little bit difficult for us because we didn't plan to have this engine in the back of the car," he said.

"Certain areas are not as good as other teams, but we started this car very early and we have produced one that is competitive. And watching everyone testing, we are looking at the cars and seeing that certain parts that we have tried on our car, didn't make it go that much quicker so...

"That goes for a lot of the parts that are on other teams and we couldn't find a route with those parts, so we took a different path which has worked for us.

"It's also a beautiful car, which is difficult to say with these wings, but this is definitely a beautiful car."

Button has confirmed that he took a pay cut from the deal originally agreed with Honda at the end of last year.

"I don't want to talk about contracts but I think it is necessary for all the people that are involved to sacrifice certain things," he said. "I want to go racing and I am so happy that the team is on the grid as Brawn GP, and that is the most important thing for me.

"Whatever people have said about drivers in the past, and me personally, I am here to race. I love racing and this is the best place to be doing it. You have got to make a lot of sacrifices."

Button said, however, that there was no question of him not wanting to relinquish some money if it meant he could remain in F1.

"You might say, 'You are an F1 driver and you make loads of money' and a few of us do earn quite a bit of money, but it is a very different situation now to what it was a year ago. That doesn't mean anything to me because I want to race," he said.

"What would I do sat at home? There is nothing out there for me at the moment. I am 29 years old, I am still a kid in my eyes and I have got a lot to prove in F1. In five or six years if that sort of thing happened I might walk away and look to do something else.

"But that is not my aim at the moment, it's to be here on the grid and prove I can win races with Brawn GP. I think there is a good possibility of that in the future."

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