Jenson Button believes the struggles he has suffered throughout his career, particularly early on, have helped him deal with the current problems he has with McLaren.
McLaren decided to return to Honda power for the 2015 season but they struggled from day one with reliability and performance issues. This resulted in the team finishing ninth in the constructors’ championship, the lowest the team has finished since their disqualification from the 2007 season constructors championship.
Button only managed to score 16 points last season, eventually finishing 16th in the drivers championship ahead of the three Manor drivers, his teammate Fernando Alonso and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
Despite the lack of performance and constant reliability problems, Button stayed upbeat throughout the season never condemning the car or Honda, showing just how mature and experienced a driver and team representative he is, something he puts down to the struggles he has faced since his career began.
“People come into Formula one at different points in their career and with teams that are competitive or uncompetitive. For me it was less competitive.” He told Autosport.com.
“When you first win a race, for me it means a lot more because you’ve worked so hard to get there, and you’ve gone through the pain and the struggle.
“It’s very special when you win. I’ve never seen so many grown men cry as when I first won in 2006 [in Hungary with Honda] – the whole team.
“So going through struggles, it’s tough. None of us like it, but it’s necessary sometimes to come out the other side, learn from it, about who you really are as a driver, but also as a human being.
“It’s made a huge difference in my career. It’s made me a much stronger person.”
Button has had previous experience with Honda, driving for the team between 2003-08, those years were also difficult for the Japanese manufacturer but he kept faith and he is keeping faith again now.
“It makes us all realise it’s not an easy sport to be involved with,”
“It’s so competitive. You’re on the radar the whole time. You can’t get away from the sport.
“If you have an issue everyone knows about it and wants to talk about it, and wants to put you down. It’s really tough.
“For a culture like the Japanese culture, it’s very difficult for them. Sometimes it can be a big dishonour.
“It was a very difficult season, but they’re so positive, working flat-out, and they will make big changes next year, as we will as a team, with the car mechanically and aerodynamically.
“We need to improve everywhere, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
It is good to see the 2009 world champion confident in Honda but at 36 years old he does not have time to wait years for Honda to sort things out.
