For almost the entire distance of the NASCAR race in Austin, Jenson Button kept a low profile, showing caution, which is quite a reasonable tactic for a debutant. In the end, it worked: until the last laps, the 2009 world champion rode in various positions, but mostly outside the top twenty, but shortly before the finish line he was lucky.
Unlike Kimi Raikkonen, he was able to avoid the collisions that occurred during numerous restarts, and eventually finished in 18th place. Commenting on the events of the race, Button also mentioned that in one of the episodes it was the Finn who pushed him.
“Emotionally, the race can be compared to a contrast shower,” said Jenson after the finish. – The first segment was unsuccessful, I was very upset and said to myself: “Everyone is going. I also have to just ride and find my rhythm.”
Never before in my practice have I found myself far off the track so often when cornering. Trying to position the car correctly, I made mistakes all the time.
Before the race we made a couple of changes to the settings, but they did not work. Strong oversteer developed, and if at first the behavior of the car left a good impression, then it was really difficult to pilot it.
In addition, Kimi pushed me quite hard, after which I rolled back. There was something wrong with the car, and every time I entered a turn, vibrations began in the rear wheel area, after which the car strove to go into a skid.
But towards the end of the race, we chose the right moments for pit stops and switched to fresh tires in time. I liked the last three restarts, I chose a good position on the track and overtook on the outer radius.
But it was uncomfortable to pilot, at the pit stops the team put ice on the seat twice, gave me a lot of water, and I returned to the track. I was close to getting out of the car because I thought I couldn’t take it. I drank maybe eight or nine bottles of water during the race. The team reassured me, and thanks to this, we showed a good result in the end.”