Jenson Button: I thought I couldn’t handle it

For almost the entire distance of the NASCAR race in Austin, Jenson Button kept a low profile and showed caution, which is a pretty reasonable tactic for a debutant. In the end it worked: until the last laps, the 2009 world champion was riding in different positions, but mostly outside the top twenty, but just before the finish he was lucky.

Unlike Kimi Raikkonen, he managed to avoid the collisions that occurred during numerous restarts and eventually finished in 18th place. Commenting on the events of the race, Button said that in one of the episodes it was the Finn who pushed him.

“Emotionally, the race can be compared to a contrast shower,” said Jenson after the finish. – The first segment was unsuccessful, I was very upset and said to myself: “Everyone is going. I also just have to go and find my rhythm.”

Never before in my practice have I gone off the track so often in corners. I tried to position the car correctly, but made mistakes all the time.

We made a few settings changes before the race, but they didn’t work. Strong oversteer developed and if the behavior of the car initially left a good impression, it was really difficult to drive.

In addition, Kimi pushed me pretty hard, after which I rolled back. Something was wrong with the car, and every time I entered a corner, vibrations started in the rear wheel area, and the car tried to skid.

But towards the end of the race we chose the right times for pit stops and switched to fresh tires in time. I liked the last three restarts, I chose a good position on the track and overtook on the outer radius.

But it was uncomfortable to pilot, at the pit stops the team put ice on the seat twice, gave me a lot of water and I returned to the track. I was about to get out of the car thinking I couldn’t handle it. I probably drank eight or nine bottles of water during the race. The team reassured me and we ended up with a good result.”