Saddled with a young Honda program, McLaren driver and 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button failed to score a point in the F1 season opener in Melbourne—his 57th-straight race without a win. In his first 19 races with Honda power, Button has scored just four top-10s and is still seeking his first podium finish.
Don’t cry for him, though. Now in his 17th F1 season, Button, 36, says he’s still as excited as ever to hit the track.
Autoweek caught up with Button during a promotional tour stop with partners Mobil 1 and Esso during the final week of testing in Barcelona before kicking off the 2016 season.
Autoweek: Has this experience—helping to develop a new program—been difficult?
Jenson Button: The last 16 years have been a real roller-coaster, but it’s been pretty awesome, as well. There’s been great experiences along the way, and I wouldn’t change anything at all in my career or life so far. Last year was very tough for us. We knew it was going to be very difficult. You’ve got two world champions on the team who are used to winning, who are used to competing at the front, and we’re not right now.
Jenson Button unveils 2016 F1 helmet
Jenson Button will be rocking some new Formula One headgear in 2016.On Wednesday, the McLaren-Honda F1 driver snapped a photo of his new helmet and shared it on Instagram.Check out the photo below.
AW: Have you had a chance to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, during your career?
JB: That’s the crazy thing about sport in general, time just flies by. You don’t often sit down and really look at what you’ve achieved in sport. Right now, at this second in time, if Formula One didn’t exist anymore, would I be happy? 100 percent, I’d be happy with what I’ve achieved. But I want to achieve more. Winning is an addiction that you can’t do without.
AW: How tough has it been not being able to show new F1 fans the real Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso during this transition time with McLaren?
JB: It’s sad for the sport really, because you’ve got two world champions at the back right now. In the mid-2000s, late 2000s, we were obviously winning a lot. We both came to this project and this new partnership knowing it was going to be difficult for a year or two. The important thing is that we keep focused, keep pushing.
JB: It has to help. I think the cars need to be quite a lot quicker. I remember in 2005 how amazed I was to see a Formula One car go around the circuit and the grip level was just beyond anything. That’s the way it should be. It should be out-of-this-world fast. It should be light years above anything else, not just two seconds quicker than a GP2 car. It should be beyond kids’ wildest dreams when they see a Formula One car. It should blow their mind, and I don’t think it does at the moment.
AW: How do you keep yourself going when you’re unable to run at the front?
JB: I’m a Formula One driver. It’s pretty awesome. That’s it, really. There’s nothing else I need to say. It is for me the best job in the world.