For Button, everything will go wrong at Jerez
As the first tests of the 2014 season approach, Jenson Button expects a deluge of problems related to the cold, the new cars, and also the change in the driving style of the drivers. According to him, Jerez could be a "hilarious" moment.
Jenson Button will undoubtedly aim for a better season in 2014 than in 2013, which saw McLaren not secure a single podium. The foundation of work on the future MP4-29 – as with all teams – will be the winter testing phase. The 2009 World Champion expects a lot of chaos.
« The winter tests are going to be hilarious in Jerez. It will be cold, the tires won’t work, the cars probably won’t work either, and when you do manage a lap it will probably be strange because you’ll be in higher gears – you’ll be in eighth where we currently use seventh, » he promises, when interviewed by our colleagues at Autosport.
The regulatory changes, with the arrival of the turbo V6 engine, will change the drivers’ work: « It’s a very different way of driving and you have to forget a lot of what you’ve learned over the years about driving a race car, the engine, the power of a race car and how you transfer that power to the ground. You need a one-meter-long accelerator pedal to control the engine’s torque. It’s really, really different. »
The combination of new engines and loss of aerodynamic downforce will, according to him, lead to a lack of prior understanding of the behavior of the cars: « No one will know how they work before the first race next year. It will be tough because we have much more torque at the engine level. There will be much less aerodynamic downforce because there will no longer be [blowing exhausts]. I don’t care what they say, there is always a significant amount of blowing on an F1 car. It will be very difficult to have grip with them. »
With 247 Grand Prix races under his belt, Jenson Button is the most experienced driver on the grid. He has experienced several regulatory changes, the most famous being the one before the 2009 season, which allowed him to become world champion with Brawn GP, and he hopes it will play to his advantage: « There is a lot for all of us to learn, even the experienced drivers, and it’s exciting. I hope the experience I have in developing the car and making it what I want it to be will help me for next year. »
