Button hopes for less ‘stressful’ build-up

Jenson Button is hoping to hit the ground running when practice begins at Silverstone as he launches his bid for home grand prix glory.


The Brawn GP ace has won six of the seven races held so far this year, but has struggled to tune his car’s balance during free practice at the past few events, which he says has caused a “stressful” build-up to qualifying and the race.


Although he has invariably found the BGP 001’s sweet spot when it matters, Button fears he may not be able to turn that trick again if he gets off to a slow start at Silverstone and is therefore hoping for a productive Friday.


“We’ve just got to hope that we have a better Friday than we have done at the last few races,” he said in Thursday's press conference.


“Because even though the end result has been great, working from where we were was quite stressful and I think it’s in that environment that you can make a mistake.


“So we’ve got to hope that we have a reasonable balance tomorrow so that we can get some good testing done.”


Red Bull is widely expected to offer a stern challenge to Brawn at Silverstone, whose high-speed corners play to the strengths of the RB5 chassis.


But while he expects more competition than in Turkey, Button is confident Brawn still has the car to beat.


“In Turkey we expected the Red Bulls to be very quick in the high-speed turn eight, but I don’t think they had an advantage, which was surprising,” he noted.


“We’ll have competition here, but I’m happy with what we have and I’m confident in the car.”