Button: I’m under no pressure to perform
Jenson Button insists he is under no pressure to achieve McLaren’s first points of the season in his one-off race in Monaco.
The 2009 world champion is replacing Fernando Alonso this weekend, who opted to miss the Monaco Grand Prix to compete in the Indy 500.
Button agreed to come back for one race only, having decided to take a year out from Formula 1 for 2017 last year.
McLaren is now the only team to have not picked up a single point this campaign, nevertheless, the Briton has made it clear there is no pressure on him to perform.
“Definitely not, I’m very relaxed, I’m very excited,” he said. It’s interesting coming back for one Grand Prix. But it being Monaco, it’s very special.
“I’ve won here before and lived here for 17 years. I don’t feel any pressure at all. I’ll get in the car and do the best job I can. You want to be competitive and get the best out of the car – that hasn’t changed.
“The car seemed to be working well in qualifying in Barcelona. I drove it in the simulator and tried the upgrade, which was a definite improvement, and we’ve got some upgrades here. If it all goes well we should be reasonably competitive.”
Button adds his preparations ahead of his eagerly-anticipated return have been going well having spent some time in the simulator, and revealed he turned down an on-track test in Bahrain because he thought it was a ”useless” thing to do.
“Preparations have been good, apart from [the fact that] I haven’t actually driven the car, these new regulations,” said the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix winner.
“One option was to do half a day in Bahrain, which I thought was useless to do, as it’s completely different. I said to the team that I thought it would be best to do some days in the simulator. I spent a lot of time in the simulator just getting used to it.
“As long as you understand where the car is working, and I’ve had every bit of information, set-up work, how it reacts… these are the things you need to understand and you can do it in the simulator.
“Most of the stuff is the same, but there are a few changes. I have a few things to learn, but it’s still a racing car, I just need to get used to it being a little bit wider.”