Jenson Button (1st) – Australian GP 2012

“Every victory means a lot - but today shows just how important it was to have a strong winter. The starts of the past two seasons have both been tricky for us, so today is really encouraging. The guys at the circuit and all the men and women back in Woking have done an amazing job to get us here. Today means a lot to me, and I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to all of them too: it’ll make those extra hours worked in the early hours of the morning all the more worthwhile, because we know we can do great things with this car. 

“At the start, I really wanted to get away fast in the first two laps to avoid the threat of DRS - it wasn’t easy because I had Lewis right on my tail. But the race went smoothly after that. My biggest worry was the late-race Safety Car: I had a 10-second advantage, which was pretty healthy, but the Safety Car cut that to nothing. And, since it was 6.00pm, with the sun going down, it was quite difficult to keep temperature in the tyres when we were running slowly behind the Safety Car. 

“That was a big worry for me, but it worked out okay in the end: I got clear of Seb (Vettel) and the DRS zone pretty quickly and was able to pull out an advantage and hold it to the end. There’s a huge amount of positives to take away from this weekend: we’ve got a great car and we can fight for the world championships. This is a perfect start to my season and I’m already looking forward to Malaysia.”

Jenson Button (14th) – Malaysian GP 2012

“Today was a pretty difficult day; pretty much everything that could have gone wrong in the race did go wrong. And that’s just one of those things - a lot of my issues were brought on when I wiped my front wing off at the start: I locked up the rears, couldn’t slow the car down and hit Karthikeyan, which was a bit frustrating. So I had to pit for a new nose, and that was pretty much it. And it’s always going to be tough when you’re down in 14th or 15th position. 

“All the cars were so close and it was difficult to overtake, too. That made it very difficult. Big congratulation to Fernando, Sergio and Lewis, who scored more good points for the team - but it just wasn’t a good day for me today. The amazing thing is that I’m still third in the championship after not scoring any points!This wasn’t really the result I wanted - but, hey, chin up: we’ll move forwards and hopefully have a much better weekend in China!”

Jenson Button (2nd) – Chinese GP 2012

“Congratulations to Nico today - he drove a faultless race. But who knows what we could have achieved if we’d had a clear run at him in the final stint? Our pace was very good and the aim was to come out ahead of that following pack of cars - which we would have done if we hadn’t lost time in the pitstop - and chase him down and put him under pressure. The delay in the final stop was just one of those things though - all the other stops had been very strong this weekend, but that one in particular wasn’t. 

“The delay pushed me back into the traffic, which was a little bit of a shock, but the pace and consistency are there in the car and I was able to get back into second position, after a good battle and a satisfying pass on Sebastian (Vettel). It’s disappointing not to have been able to challenge for the win, but it was a fun race with tons of overtaking and lots of battling. 

“More important, it’s been a great day for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes because we’re now leading both world championships. It’s very important to be consistent, and it’s nice to be back on the podium, but there are just a couple of little things we need to improve upon to make life even better for ourselves.”

Jenson Button (18th) – Bahrain GP 2012

“I didn’t have a very good balance today: I was struggling all afternoon with oversteer. We were taking front wing out of the car all the way through the race, in fact. However, my final stint was a long one, and, if I hadn’t struck trouble, I reckon things would have got quite interesting in the final laps. Some drivers had pushed harder at the start of that stint, but I’d been looking after my tyres. Into the last five laps, I started pushing pretty hard, and I caught up with Paul and Nico. But, just as I braked for the final corner, the right-front corner lifted up in the air and I realised I had a puncture. So I quickly radioed the team, and pitted. In the last few laps, the car sounded really noisy. I think the initial problem was an exhaust failure, then my puncture, and then a differential failure; so I had to retire. It’s been a pretty difficult weekend for the whole team.”

Jenson Button (9th) – Spanish GP 2012

“Congratulations to Pastor! His was a great drive and I’m sure it will instil a lot of confidence in him and the Williams team. The Formula One form-book is very mixed-up at the moment, which is unusual, but that’s the way it appears to be going this season. As for us, well, a lot of my afternoon was spent stuck in traffic, and I had a Sauber breathing down my neck for most of the race. 

“All in all, we weren’t quite quick enough today – but that’s something I need to solve myself. I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment. Having said that, I’m already looking forward to Monaco and a much better weekend there. It’s a circuit I love and hopefully a place where we can achieve a good result.”

Jenson Button (DNF) – Monaco GP 2012

“At the start, Kamui almost landed on top of me because he’d been launched off someone else. Then I almost got stuck at the exit of Sainte Devote, but I just managed to squeeze through. After my stop, I got caught behind Heikki - we weren’t really fighting, but if you position your car in the right place around here then it’s impossible to overtake. That’s quite frustrating when you’re so much quicker than the guy in front. 

“Finally, I had a look up the inside of Turn 15, we touched, and I had a puncture. Game over. Today’s result stems from a poor qualifying performance and being unlucky at the start. Also, when you start from the mid-grid, you’re more prone to incidents. It wasn’t my day today - but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.”

Jenson Button (16th) – Canadian GP 2012

“First of all, big congratulations to Lewis and to the whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team - they found a lot of speed today and Lewis did a great job.

“For me, though, I didn’t find the speed today, and I couldn’t seem to look after the tyres.

“Generally, the past few Grand Prix weekends haven’t been great for me. But every time you make changes to the car, you’re hopeful that it’s going to go well and give you an improvement, so hopefully we’ll be able to solve it sooner rather than later.”

Jenson Button (8th) – European GP 2012

“This was a really difficult race to read. I got a poor start, was boxed in at Turn One, and had to lift to prevent Fernando [Alonso] and myself hitting the wall at Turn Two. I don’t think we did a bad job in terms of strategy - the car felt good and kept improving during the race - but, when the Safety Car was deployed, I think a few others lucked in to a better strategy. And, today, also, we just didn’t get lucky. Finally, massive congratulations to Fernando - he did a great job. Hopefully we can do the same thing at our home grand prix in two weeks’ time!”

Jenson Button (10th) – British GP 2012

“It was good to get a point in my Grand Prix, but of course that’s not what we ought to be doing: we’re a front-running team and we’ve got a bit of work to do to start running at the front again. I don’t think we made any mistakes with our strategy today; we’re just not quite quick enough at the moment, that’s all. 

“Most important of all, though, I’m a bit sorry for the Silverstone fans, because they’ve been truly amazing this weekend. Like them, we wanted a lot more from today’s result. So we’re sorry, guys; we weren’t able to fight at the front today, but hopefully we’ll be back there soon.”

Jenson Button (3rd) – German GP 2012

“I had a really good race and really enjoyed myself out there. I made a good start, pulled off some good moves on both Nico Hukenberg and Michael Schumacher and had strong pace all afternoon. Sebastian Vettel’s pass was a pretty straightforward matter: the rules state that you can’t go off the track to gain an advantage. The thing is, there would have been more opportunities for him before the end of the race as my rear tyres were damaged. 

“That’s because I had to push hard to try and catch Fernando Alonso, which meant I had nothing left for the end of the race. We pretty much ran out of rubber two laps before the chequer. There are two strong positives to take away from today: firstly, although it proved very difficult to overtake, we’re right up there with Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of speed. Our upgrade package is working well: if we can sort out qualifying, we’re in the mix, and we’ll have a really good chance of winning races this season. 

“Secondly, although there’s previously been some negative talk about our pit stops, the boys did an unbelievable job today. My fastest stop was a 2.31s - the blink of an eye, and, I’m told, the fastest pit stop in history. They were phenomenal and gave it absolutely everything today - all our effort is really paying off now. I’m already looking forward to Hungary - it’s a special place for me, and I feel really encouraged that we can have another great race next weekend.”

Jenson Button (6th) – Hungarian GP 2012

“First of all, I want to say a big ‘Well done!’ to Lewis and the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Fantastic job, guys! For me, though, I guess today was quite a bit more frustrating than it was for Lewis. Having said that, I was really pleased to be able to get ahead of Seb [Vettel] on the opening lap, passing him on the outside of Turn Two, and to be able to hold a very solid third place at that point. I was on the leaders’ pace too. 

“In fact, even after the first stop, I could still see the leaders - so we were obviously still pretty close. Then we decided to go for a three-stop strategy - but after my second and third stops I encountered traffic, unfortunately, which made things really difficult for me because the traffic I was stuck in was lapping quite a bit slower than I could have been lapping if I’d had a clear track. 

“But there are lots of positives to take away from this weekend: our car is obviously quick, as I was able to show at Hockenheim and Lewis was able to confirm here, and in the second half of the season I know that everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will work as hard as possible to maintain and continue that upward performance development curve. Now, as we go into the mid-season break, I’m going to go away and relax. I’m really looking forward to it, in fact.”

Jenson Button (1st) – Belgian GP 2012

“I’m sorry to all the fans if it wasn’t very exciting at the front! However, winning a grand prix is never easy: you’ve always got to look after the tyres and keep an eye on the gap behind. Today’s race was particularly tricky to read, in fact, because lots of cars were on different strategies so you never knew exactly where you stood. Turn One looked pretty crazy - in my mirrors, I could see cars all over the place. For me, it was all pretty straightforward though. 

“Having said that, without having been able to gather long-run testing data from Friday, it initially looked like it was going to be a hard race to call. In fact, as things panned out, it was the opposite. It was unusual to be able to run a one-stop strategy. We got to lap 12 and the team asked me how the car was feeling; I told them that the balance was getting better and better, so we were able to get to lap 20 before pitting. 

“We need to score big points in both world championships - and today was exactly what we required. I’m a massive team-player, and I fight for the team; I want us to win both world championships and, until I can’t mathematically fight for the drivers’ world championship, I won’t give up on it. I think I showed that today.”

Jenson Button (DNF) – Italian GP 2012

“I had too much wheelspin at the start, and that dropped me to third and caused me to lose a lot of time behind Felipe Massa. But it was nice to get past him, put some clear air between us, and then start chasing down Lewis. I was never going to challenge him for the win, but it would have been great for the team if we could have finished first and second. But it wasn’t to be. I don’t entirely know what caused my car to stop - I’m told it was a fuel system problem that we’re still investigating. The engine cut out and I had to coast to a stop. 

“These things happen. But, looking for the positives, I want to offer my congratulations to the whole team. We’ve proven over the past few races that we’re very strong in both qualifying trim and race trim. That consistency is really key, and we haven’t seen that form from any team all season, so that’s very encouraging indeed.”

Jenson Button (2nd) – Singapore GP 2012

“It’s nice to be back on the podium - and, if I finish every remaining race in the top one or two, that’ll be perfect. During the first stint, I even thought I had a chance of winning because I was able to go longer than the cars around me. But then they didn’t seem to struggle much on the harder tyre, so the advantage swung away from me. 

“I had a good second stint, but the harder tyre didn’t feel quite as good for me [as the softer tyre]. Then I didn’t really have good balance in the final 10 laps. I still have a slim chance of winning the drivers’ world championship, but I’m just enjoying my racing at the moment. I think our car will be competitive at Suzuka, and we’re doing a very good job as a team too. 

“Of course, it’s disappointing that we had a reliability failure with Lewis’s car, so that’s something we need to solve, particularly as we’re doing such a good job in every other area. If we can solve our reliability issues, we’ll definitely have a chance of fighting for the win in all six remaining races.”

Jenson Button (4th) – Japanese GP 2012

“Fourth definitely isn’t a bad result - particularly considering I started from eighth. I ran as high as third during the first stint, but in hindsight it was probably an error to make our first pit stop so early. Both Kamui and I were compromised behind a Toro Rosso, and that cost both of us a bit of time to Felipe. He’d started on a brand-new set of tyres, and that makes a big difference: you can go longer and keep the speed up, so he was able to jump both of us after the first stops. 

“Towards the end, I was able to push and start catching Kamui. But he controlled his final set of tyres very well - I could get close to him, but the only way I was going to get into the DRS zone was by braking extra-late into the chicane, and, every time I tried, I locked up and ran wide. Still, this result isn’t too bad - we got some more points - we just didn’t have the pace to go for the win today.”

Jenson Button (DNF) – Korean GP 2012

“I got a really good start and was able to get past both Mercedes. Into the first corner, there was a slight incident in front of me [when Sergio Perez braked late and tapped the car in front], so I was forced to run wide and push Nico (Rosberg) off the circuit. Nico and I then had a good drag-race down the back straight on lap one. I braked really late for Turn Three, then suddenly Kamui’s (Kobayashi) car was climbing all over my car’s right-hand side. It’s extremely disappointing. 

“This is a long race, with so much opportunity for everyone. It’s a great circuit for overtaking, so it’s surprising to see people behaving like that on the first lap. I no longer have a realistic chance to win the world championship, so I’ll be enjoying myself over the final four races. Scoring points for the team in the constructors’ world championship will be the most important priority, so I’ll be focusing on picking up as many as I possibly can.”

Jenson Button (5th) – Indian GP 2012

“The start of the race was my highlight - there were just millimetres between Lewis, Fernando and me. I’ve never had a start quite like that before - unbelievably hard-fought - and none of us hit each other. It was so close, so tight, yet so clean. It’s just a pity that the rest of the race wasn’t as enjoyable! My first stint was pretty disappointing; I think maybe we struggled more on the options than the other runners did, so I couldn’t keep the guys behind me. 

“I then made my pit stop earlier than anticipated, so that we could find a better balance on the harder tyre, but that didn’t work out because I got stuck behind Romain [Grosjean], which lost me more time. But getting fastest lap on the final lap was great, and I think there’s plenty of potential that we can build on and take with us to Abu Dhabi next weekend.”

Jenson Button (4th) – Abu Dhabi GP 2012

“Congratulations to Kimi - he’s a man of few words, but he’s all about racing. He deserved this victory today. For me, it was quite a fun race. I had a few good battles out there - with Mark, Sebastian and Pastor Maldonado - and they were particularly good fun. But, unfortunately, I didn’t have the pace in the car to take the fight to the leaders today. The car felt very different from how it had on Friday - I just couldn’t find the grip, which was strange. 

“And, at the end, I couldn’t have kept Sebastian back - he was on newer options, so it was impossible to get the same amount of traction from my older Primes as he was getting from his newer options. Lewis’s retirement meant we dropped more points to Ferrari in the constructors’ world championship. That was a great pity, but we have two big races remaining in which to make up the balance.”

Jenson Button (5th) – United States GP 2012

“Starting on the dirty side of the racetrack was very tough - I ended up 15th by the end of the first lap. So fifth was probably the best result I could have had. I had a lot of fun this afternoon, and fought a lot of good battles on my way through. There was lots of action and lots of overtaking - and most of it was very clean, which was good to see. Obviously, however, fifth place wasn’t the result I’d have ideally liked, but the car was working really well, and, with a better grid position, I could definitely have been right up there. 

“Still, big congratulations to Lewis and the whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. It was great to race in front of so many fantastically enthusiastic American fans - they looked like they really enjoyed themselves. Before we arrived here, we knew we were going to have to put on a good show, and I think we did just that. There was action and suspense all the way through, which is exactly what you need to create a great sporting spectacle. I really hope the US will now embrace Formula One at last.”

Jenson Button (1st) – Brazil GP 2012

“Everyone who took part in today’s race deserves respect - it was crazy out there! The conditions were always going to trigger plenty of action, because some cars could generate the required tyre temperatures and others couldn’t. So, for most of the race, you were on a tyre that didn’t feel quite right for the conditions, but for which the lap-times looked okay compared with those of the cars on the other tyre. 

“I spent so much time speaking on the radio to my engineer, Dave [Robson], trying to understand what was going to work and what wasn’t. I had a lot of fun racing with Lewis, especially for the first 10 laps. We had a really good, clean fight. It’s a pity he wasn’t still there at the end - but it was nice to have such a great dice with him in our last race as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mates. 

“And I really want to say this: ‘It’s been so good working with you, Lewis. Over the past few years, we’ve driven a lot of great races together. It’s been fab. Going back to the subject of today’s race, the safety car made life more difficult for us - we lost the 40-second buffer we’d built up - but then the rain really came down, and the race became all about choosing the best time to switch to the Inters. 

“Then the challenge altered, and it became all about nursing the car to the end. There was a lot of standing water about, especially where Paul (di Resta) had his accident. I’d been through there on the previous lap and had a big snap too, which was a pretty scary moment. Last but not least, congratulations to Sebastian (Vettel). To win three world championships in a row is a great achievement.”

Jenson Button (9th) – Australian GP 2013

“Having won the Australian Grand Prix three times so far in my career – in 2009, 2010 and 2012 – you’d have to say that today’s ninth place isn’t really much to write home about. Having said that, I think we should be pretty satisfied with what we achieved here in Melbourne today. It was a tricky race, and our car isn’t yet quick enough, so I think the team did a great job to achieve even as much as we did. 

“As a result, I scored two World Championship points today, which makes 1001 in my career I’m reliably informed, and to be honest I don’t think I could have scored any more than that. But, although that’s a nice stat, it doesn’t ease the pain caused by the knowledge that our car still needs a lot of work done before it’s properly competitive. 

“Looking forward to Malaysia next weekend, I think we’ve got a tough few days ahead of us, but hopefully we can now do some number–crunching in an effort to understand our car a bit better and extract a bit more performance out of it there.”

Jenson Button (17th) – Malaysian GP 2013

“We drove a good race today. Strategy-wise, we did everything right. We pitted on the correct laps and looked after the tyres exactly as we should have done. We’d have finished fifth but for the problem in the pit stop - maybe we’d even have been in the battle for third and fourth. It’s very disappointing that we weren’t able to demonstrate that, of course. 

“Even at the end we had a chance of scoring a point, but unfortunately I was struggling with my front-left tyre by that stage. It kept locking up, and it was producing such a bad vibration that I think the guys were worried that it might damage the front left suspension if I carried on. However, as I say, apart from the pit stop problem, I think we did a pretty good job. 

“We’ve made improvements over the past week, and the result of those improvements was that we were more competitive here in Malaysia than we were in Australia last weekend, so there are definitely positives that we can take away with us. Hopefully, in China in two weeks’ time, we can continue that steady improvement and score a few more points.”

Jenson Button (5th) – Chinese GP 2013

“I’m very happy to have finished fifth today - and the team should be too. The race was always going to be tricky: we weren’t quick enough to adopt the same strategy as the others, so we had to run longer than the rest and make two pit stops, rather than three. For us, a two-stopper was the fastest way to the end of the race. 

“It meant I had to let others past me and protect the tyres. If we couldn’t run to our target lap, it would’ve destroyed our race. I had to cruise when I’d normally fight the others. It’s not the most exciting way to go racing, but we got 10 points today because we did it. We know we still have a lot of work to do to challenge at the front, but we can take a lot of positives away from this weekend.”

Jenson Button (10th) – Bahrain GP 2013

“Today wasn’t brilliant for me. Okay, the race was a lot of fun, but I didn’t get the result I wanted because I used up my tyres fending off Checo. There was a lot of action out there, and as I say I wasn’t really able to conserve my tyres as a result. That was partly because I had to work my way back through after my second pitstop, when I’d been fighting with Romain (Grosjean). 

“But there was a lot of clean racing out there too - although as I say Checo was a bit tough, which was a little unusual. He did a good job overall though: he had good pace, and he looked after his tyres well. So, congratulations to him, because together we scored some very useful points for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team today.”

Jenson Button (8th) – Spanish GP 2013

“That was an interesting race. The lap to the grid was very slow, which hurt us, and my start wasn’t great. I had no grip, so Turn One was a mess. I was unlucky to end up 17th at the end of lap one.We took the same approach as in China, adopting a different strategy from the others. To finish eighth show what a good job the team did with the strategy. I don’t know whether we’ve improved our package or not, but we certainly beat some cars that we possibly shouldn’t have beaten. 

“Still, it’s a positive that both cars finished in the points, and hopefully this’ll be the start of an upward trend. We gathered a lot of useful information today, and we’ll be working on that over the next few races in order to continue developing MP4-28. I want to say a big thank-you for all the support I’ve received from the British fans this weekend. 

“It’s great to see so many Vodafone ‘rocket red’ caps and T-shirts in the grandstands. Hopefully, we’ll have a full house at Silverstone and we’ll be stronger there. There’s still a lot of work to do. It’s tough at the moment, but I’m pleased that we’re making the best of what we have.”

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