Canadian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button has described yesterday’s race as the finest of his 11 and-a-half year Formula One career.
The 2009 champ scored a remarkable victory in Montreal, climbing from 21st at mid-race to sail past Sebastian Vettel for the win as the German slid wide on the 70th and final lap. It was Button’s tenth win in Formula One and, according to the man himself, the finest.
“That was the best victory of my career, and today is therefore a very special day for me. I fought my way from last to first to win the race, and I overtook the cars in front of me on the track. To win a grand prix by getting one over on your rivals with a series of strong overtaking moves makes it even better.
“Races in changing conditions are always very tricky – but I love it when you’ve got to search for grip on the track rather than knowing in advance where it is. It was an amazing victory – I don’t think it could have been any better, especially after Monte Carlo where we thought we had a win in the bag but were then disappointed at the very end. I was a little bit fortunate today when Sebastian made a mistake on the last lap, but I think we deserved that bit of luck!”
Button also sought to downplay his early race collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The McLarens collided on lap eight, but Button revealed that the duo spoke during the long red flag period and cleared the air.
“As far as the incident with Lewis is concerned, I couldn’t see a thing behind me except a blur of Vodafone rocket-red, but that could have been my rear wing: obviously, it’s the same colour as Lewis’s car. I moved to the left, which is the racing line, then I felt a bang, and I feared it was game over for both of us. Lewis knows that I didn’t do it on purpose, and I know that he didn’t do it on purpose either. I spoke to him before the race restarted, and it’s all good.”
Finally, Button paid tribute to his race engineer, Dave Robson, after what was the pair’s first race victory together.
“I want to offer big congrats to Dave, my race engineer. We haven’t won together before, so this is a very special result for him as well as for me. Now, I just want to enjoy this moment; it’s been a long time coming and it couldn’t have been much sweeter.”
