Last weekend saw Jenson Button achieve his best result of the 2016 Formula One season so far, when he took a fantastic sixth place at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, after a superb qualifying session saw him line up third on the grid. Ahead of his home race at Silverstone on Sunday, the Brit is confident and motivated.
Victory, and even a visit to the podium has so far eluded the 2009 world champion at the iconic British track, and finally being able to achieve that feat would be a special moment indeed for Button. The Brit is aware however, that realising that goal may be an extremely difficult task on this occasion.
“Finishing on the podium at the British Grand Prix is top of my ‘to do’ list in F1. I’ve achieved pretty much everything else that I set out to do in F1, but I’ve never stood on the podium at Silverstone. I really want to do that and it would feel like a victory if I were to achieve it.
“Of course, the result in Austria last week really motivates everybody, and it raises everyone’s expectations, too. It would be lovely to be able to claim that a podium this year might finally be possible, but, being realistic, that won’t be possible this time.”
Nevertheless, the progress achieved by the McLaren-Honda F1 team so far this year has steadily improved, and we are now starting to get a taste for what might be possible for the Woking based squad in the not so distant future. Results like the one in Spielberg, always re-kindle the team’s faith in the path they have chosen, and Button will be more than ready to take any opportunities that come his way on race day.
“I head to Silverstone feeling hugely encouraged by our progress, and just what we can achieve as a team when the variables are thrown into the air and all the teams are left to somewhat improvise: we can do great things.
“It goes without saying that I’ll be giving it everything at Silverstone this weekend.”
Honda have stated that they may consider bringing an engine upgrade to the British Grand Prix weekend, and that would be a huge boost to the team’s potential should they choose to go ahead with that decision.
