Jenson Button Q&A

"It was my fault. I got a bit excited at the start, and pulled the lever a bit quick. So I lifted off purposely because I thought, 'shit, I've jumped the start.' Then when I thought I'd given enough space to say I've jumped the start but I've lifted off I went back on the throttle, but nothing happened. The way our traction control system is there's a safety mode so that when you come off the throttle and brake you can't use the throttle again for about five seconds or something stupid! So I sat there with my foot on the throttle, and it was dead. It finally went, and I was last."



"It was my mistake, so there you go. But then I overtook four cars on the first lap, which I quite impressed myself with! I got past Yoong after the start, I got past Irvine round the outside at the long lefthander before Casino, I got past de la Rosa round the outside of Loews, and then I got Webber after the tunnel. So I was happy with myself, it was going alright. Then I got a drive through penalty, which I thought was a bit harsh, considering I'd been last anyway after the start."



"In the middle of the race when I had a clear run the car was going very well, and my times were about third or fourth quickest, which was good. Then I got stuck behind the Jaguar."



"Yeah. I don't know what set-up they had with wings and things, but I was able to be very close to him and he was holding me up in a lot of the braking places and apexes. But on the exits and the straights he just seemed be able to pull away slightly [well spotted Jenson, for the R3 was running Austrian downforce levels with no special developments for Monaco]. It was a bit annoying because the only place to overtake is on braking."



"He had problems with the rear of his car. His tyres weren't great, so I went down the inside of him. I thought this is easy, I've got alongside him, and the car pulled up very well on the brakes considering it's quite bumpy there. And he turned in, which was a bit harsh. So then we had the shunt. I was alongside him, except for about 10cms. So we had the coming together, and I said, 'What happened?' He just said, 'Sorry, I couldn't see you.' And that was it."



"It was good for him personally to get his first points of the year. If I'd stayed on the circuit I would have finished right behind him, so it's a bit annoying for me. But it was good for him to get some points, and good for the team as well, because we're up to 11 now. It's just a bit of a pity that the McLaren won...



"There were quite a few, but they all did it after I stopped!"



"I really don't know. We'll see what happens. But it's a bit like Monaco, with a lot of incidents."