Interview: 'Too nice' Button Improves Self-Awareness

Jenson Button hit back on Thursday at suggestions he might be too nice to become World Champion and revealed his BAR team had undergone a self-awareness programme to iron out any weaknesses.

Button believes he could win the title as early as next season while remaining - in the words of former title-winner and compatriot Damon Hill - 'frighteningly normal'.

"What was it Damon said last year? That I wasn't bonkers (mad) enough," the Briton said before the season's opening Grand Prix. "I think that's a compliment, more than anything. If you're bonkers you can't work.

"I think I'm quite relaxed in the way I work and I think if you are more relaxed, you have more time to think and run through everything. I'm still a nice person, there's no reason not to be. If we have a problem, I don't get shirty about it and I don't get stressful because it's not a way of working."

Hill, champion in 1996 in a sport full of intensely competitive personalities, declared last year that "if you look at past World Champions, they are all bonkers, basically".

"I was a bit nutty, too. But Jenson? He's just so even-tempered and takes everything in his stride. If I had any reservations about him as a driver it would be that he is not bonkers enough."

Future Champion

Some might question the grasp on reality of a 24-year-old who has yet to stand on a Grand Prix podium, let alone win a race, when he declares, as Button did on Thursday, that he could be champion by the end of 2005.

"I think there is a chance, yes," he told Reuters. "The amount of progress we've made over this winter, not just through lap time but also as a team. We've really moved forward. I think it's possible."

Over the winter months Button has undergone a self-awareness programme, a rarity in a testosterone-fuelled sport where emotions are kept in check and weaknesses denied.

"We've really looked at ourselves in the team and we've worked at our weaknesses," he said. "At the start that felt a bit weird. They come up with a form and it says 'your strengths and weaknesses'.

"I went 'I haven't got any weaknesses'. But then you sit down with your engineers and you run through it and you do find quite a lot of weaknesses.

"It's not so much driving, it's more being out of the car and working with the engineers and mechanics...we did it (the assessment) at the end of the season and we had the whole testing period to try and rectify it and it really does help."

BAR could turn out to be the revelations of the season, if testing times are translated into race pace, and team boss David Richards has wagered 1,000 pounds ($1,830) - divided equally between the two - on his drivers winning this weekend.

Button said only capturing the World Championship would really thrill him.

"It would be great to be on the podium and to win a race also - it would be fantastic. But it wouldn't be, like, 'wow'," he declared. "Winning a title would do it because there's a lot more to that. You can be lucky with a win."

Button said BAR had yet to discover where they stood compared to other teams. They know their new car is a big step from last year when they finished fifth with 26 points, well behind fourth-placed Renault with 88.

"I think we'll be happy to be challenging the top teams over the whole season but we don't want to start in three races. We want to start now," he said.