Button battles San Marino memories

13 April 2012

Jenson Button is confident of scoring points for the third straight race at this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix. But the race, which heralds the start of the European season, holds little but bad memories for the rejuvenated Somerset youngster after two disappointing years at Imola.

In his last two outings, Button has pushed for a podium finish and admits he has been disappointed not to have stepped on to the rostrum at the end of a race. Could this be the year he does it?

"I am pretty much expecting a points finish," Renault driver Button said. "But as for a podium, we will wait and see. It is a tough circuit because you have to ride kerbs and that is not a natural thing for a driver to do.

"We will have to work hard on making the car work over the kerbs, but with a good car it is a nice circuit to drive. There is a lot of slow-speed stuff around the track and I think with that, our car is going to work well because pulling out of the slower corners we have got good traction.

"The circuit is narrowand slippery and that makes life difficult, but it has some fantastic corners. Piratella, the quick downhill left-hander, is my favourite place on the circuit because it is the onewhere you feel the most gforce and it is the most difficult part of the circuit.

"The uphill chicane after Aqua Minerali is pretty exciting and tricky too. It is essentially a two-part corner with the first part taken at around 140mph in fourth before braking and dropping down to second for the tighter part of it, at around 80mph."

Button is hoping to wipe away his past form at Imola as his Renault team continue to develop an already competitive car, which, he says, is getting better every day.

"It is a great car and each time I drive it I get more confident," he said. "We have been able to get a good set-up at each circuit and hopefully that will continue here, even though I found it difficult at Imola the last two years I have been there.

"The first year I had a good car there but we couldn't get to grips with it and last year we had a few problems there - I think I qualified 20th or 21st.

"But with this car, the electronics as well as the engine design - which has a low centre of gravity - mean that the car should work well out of slow-speed corners."

One of the important factors of the Imola circuit is that the temperatures will be much lower than those experienced in the humid first three fly-away races in Australia, Malaysia and Brazil, and Button is hoping that will play into his hands.

"Personally, it is better because I am English," he said.

"It is a little easier on the car as well, in terms of oil temperatures. and we have to make fewer compromises on cooling.

"As for the tyres, we will have to see how it works out. Michelin won here last year, so I am confident they can perform strongly."

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Button battles San Marino memories

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