By pitpass.com (09/06/2003)
June 9 2003

"It was very frustrating," admits Jenson Button in an interview with The Observer when asked how he felt when told that he would have to sit out last Sunday's Monaco GP. "You just want to race wherever and whenever," he adds, "that's what you're there for.

"But what made it even more frustrating," he continues, "was the fact that the weekend had been going so well. We had been very, very strong on Thursday. I was third quickest in qualifying that afternoon and everything was looking pretty smooth on Saturday morning - until the accident. But I knew that the doctors wouldn't be happy about me racing and the team would feel the same. When you've been concussed, you need to get over it and I didn't want to push it too hard even though, deep down, I wanted to get back in the car.'

So what happened?

"The problem at Monaco is that there is a limit and if you make a slight mistake, you hit the wall," says the BAR star. "It is different to most circuits where usually you just go over a small kerb or spin off.

"That said, I always think you need to push as much as you can, wherever you can, because you need to be able to feel what the car is like on the limit before going for your quick lap in qualifying. So, I did that," he continues, "and went a bit over the limit. That sort of thing happens. You can't just narrow that down to saying you can't push at Monaco. You really do have to do it wherever you are."

"On Sunday, I didn't feel fantastic but I didn't have any bruising," says Button. "Then on Monday the bruises started to appear and my right knee was aching quite a bit in the joints. But I've been going through all the hydrotherapy and stuff like that and it's much better."

The Englishman was due to attend the team's test at Monza this week in preparation for the Canadian GP, but on Wednesday BAR issue a statement in which it was revealed that Button would not play any part in the Monza programme and would instead concentrate on getting himself back into shape. It's said that in F1, very much like riding a bike, it's vital that following a serious incident you return to work immediately, in the past week has the former WilliamsF1 driver had any lingering doubts?

"It won't niggle away at me, if that's what you mean," says Button, "even though I've only had one other big accident. That was when I was karting in 1997 in Japan and the kart in front had a problem with its engine. The engine seized, the rear wheels locked and the guy was stranded in the middle of the circuit. I came bombing round the corner, hit him at full speed and was thrown from the kart. It hurt quite a bit, but not as much as Saturday.

"The big difference was the G-force," he says. "On Saturday I'm told it was 30G or something like that. I was lucky, a lot of the force was taken out because the tyre barriers are there and the car is very strong.

"I've spent quite a lot of time looking at the data and video footage," he continues. "That's the best thing to do because you can't forget about an accident like that and pretend it didn't happen. You've got to look at it quite intensively; it's important to see where it all went wrong. I made a mistake, I know why and I'm not worried about it. I can't wait to get back in a racing car again."

Aside from the accident, which he must be tired of talking about, how does Jenson feel the season is shaping up?

"The competition is very intense now," he says, "especially with the young drivers coming through. But Michael is very competitive and I'd say he's most likely to win the championship this year. He'll go on for a lot longer and it's going to be down to him making a decision on when he quits rather than being forced into it.

"The drivers need Michael," he adds, "because it's good to have a world champion there. I'd love to be in a car that is capable of winning when he is still around. It would be a fantastic feeling to beat him fair and square. Nothing that happened last weekend is going to divert me from that."

This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.