Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, shared his impressions of the team’s drivers during a meeting with fans in Las Vegas in the Williams fan zone and also talked about some features of the upcoming weekend.
Jenson Button: “I consider the Las Vegas Grand Prix my home race because I live in Los Angeles. I retired from Formula 1 in 2016, that was 8 years ago, which sounds scary in itself. I moved to America, primarily because my wife is from California, but also because I could walk around here without anyone paying attention to me.
I didn’t have to lower my eyes and pull my hat over my forehead. It’s not that people in Britain and Europe in general are unfriendly, but in America it was easier to be yourself, and that’s nice.
But that was only until recently! Now I am recognized here even more often than when I drove in Formula 1! And yet there are still times when, for example, I’m sitting in a restaurant and I hear people at the table next to us talking about Formula 1 and at the same time they don’t even know who I am! And it’s very funny!
But of course the popularity of our sport in America is growing every year, and it’s very nice to see this. On the one hand, this is partly the merit of Netflix, because thanks to the documentary series Drive To Survive, the public could get to know the racers better, but there is another important reason. Agree that the drivers just look cool now, and this attracts the attention of a new, wider audience to Formula 1.
If we talk about the Williams drivers, in my opinion everyone is impressed with the way Franco Colapinto is handling the issue. It is very difficult to get behind the wheel in the middle of the season, to deal with this intense pressure, to make connections with the specialists working in the team, and there are a lot of them at Williams.
But Franco is Argentinian, and they are ardent fans of motor racing and passionately support their compatriot, especially such a talented one. Let’s hope he stays in Formula 1 for a long time.
I have known Alex Albon for several years. I remember once taking him for a test run at a go-kart track, and we were racing classic karts with a manual gearbox. And I can say he is a very fast racer, but I kept up with him!
He is a very nice man, very calm, although sometimes it happens that he worries too much for some reason. But one of the important qualities of his character is that he really believes in himself, in his strength. By the way, Franco immediately managed to perform at Alex’s level – perhaps he still lacks stability, but in certain situations they show approximately the same speeds. This is really impressive.
The night race in Las Vegas takes place in November and this city is located in the middle of the desert, so it is not surprising that it is very cold here now. I don’t know, but it seems like Formula 1 doesn’t understand this. Although teams warn this could cause problems because these machines require heat, they operate efficiently at higher ambient temperatures.
First of all, it is quite difficult to heat the rubber to the required temperatures. Fortunately, the speeds on this track are quite high, which helps to achieve more or less efficient tire performance. But it is still very difficult to warm up hard tires here.
In addition, in my opinion, this year is even colder than in 2023, and if the tires cannot be warmed up properly, the car behaves very nervous and unpredictably on the track. I therefore predict that it will not be easy for the riders. However, this is exactly what they get a lot of money for!..” (laughs)
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
