Jenson Button says he’s enjoying his one-off return to driving duty in Monaco – but he still insists that he hasn’t missed it since his last race for McLaren in Abu Dhabi.
Button finished Thursday’s FP2 session in 12th place, almost matching the times of teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, who has been in the MCL32 all year.
“It was funny when I did the install lap this morning,” said Button. “I had a little giggle to myself as I headed into Mirabeau. It’s a lovely experience for me to drive these cars. Have I missed it? I haven’t missed it, but when you jump in the car you definitely enjoy the moments you have.
“I really enjoyed practice, the long runs, the short runs, but FP2 was a bit of a struggle to find my feet with my car. But I’m definitely getting there, and I’m confident I can improve for Saturday.”
Button admitted he needed some time to adjust to a car that is faster and wider, and he actually found the second session more challenging, as grip levels increased and speeds went up.
“I’m braking for corners and I just feel like I’m gonna be in the barriers. It’s strange initially, but I’m definitely getting to grips with it. High-speed is just so much fun, the first part of the Swimming Pool is flat – I can’t remember the last time it was flat, it probably hasn’t ever been for me.
“Turn 3 is a lot of fun as well, heading into Casino, but there are braking areas where there’s a lot of work still to do; to get confidence to brake hard. It’s the old beginners thing – you brake early, you lift early, you turn in and accelerate early and you understeer off.
“The weirdest thing is probably when you let a car pass, or you’re behind a car and you see the size of it – it’s gigantic. And you feel uncomfortable, because you think maybe I’m too close to the barriers. But the car fits like a glove. FP2 was a little trickier to find my feet, braking so much later than what I’m used to here, and carrying more speed into the corners.
“It’s just having that confidence, because normally you’d lock a tyre braking that late or you’d be in the wall. It takes time, and hopefully with another day off, after a bit of time with the engineers, I can improve myself.”
Regarding prospects for qualifying he said: “To be fair I haven’t thought about where I’d hope to finish. It’s a very mixed up grid at the moment, so I’m sure it’s all going to change on Saturday. I don’t expect to be one tenth off of a Mercedes in qualifying. The guys understand where I’m coming from with my feelings, and they know what we have to do to improve the car to suit me a little bit more and give me confidence. Hopefully we’ll see a good step in performance.”
Everything you need to know for the Monaco GP:
