“I forgot how to start the car,” anxious Jenson Button opens up about his first NASCAR experience
Jenson Button's take on his first NASCAR experience at Circuit of the Americas.
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The 2009 F1 World Champion, Jenson Button, has talked about his first outing in a NASCAR Cup Series machinery. During the recently concluded practice session at COTA, he, for the first time, got the taste of getting into a NASCAR car and experiencing how different the whole feel is compared to F1. The button drives the No.15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang and has the support of Cup giants Stewart-Haas racing.
In the 50-minute practice session of the upcoming COTA race, Jenson Button took his car around the oval circuit for 13 laps. Moreover, by the end of the session, he found himself 28th on the timing sheets, 1.770 seconds behind Tyler Reddick, who set the pace for the session. While talking about his outing after the session, Button said, “I mean, first of all … A little bit anxious but excited at the same time.”
He added, “I forgot how to start the car which was interesting. So they pushed the car back, and I’m like ‘It won’t start.’ There were a few other switches I had to put up. But then it was okay. I got onto the circuit and I was surprised by how little grip there was initially when I pulled away, and the tires were cold. But, it comes to you over time. The gear shifting is something that … I’ve never driven a sequential gearbox car.”
“I’ve never pulled back going through the gears and pushed to go down. It’s something completely new to learn. I’ve driven a manual gearbox, but you always go across the box. The last time I drove a gearbox like this was like in 1999. There’s a lot that you go back into the bank of info you’ve learned over the years, and you bring it out again. It comes to you pretty quickly. I really enjoyed it.”
Jenson Button has admitted that it took him a bit of time to get the hang of things in his new surroundings, however, after a few laps, he started to get the working of every key element on his car and really started enjoying the thrill that NASCAR Cups Series cars produce. While sharing intricate details, he pointed to the sequential gearbox used in NASCAR cars. Button, during his time in F1, never drove a sequential gearbox and thus revealed, that he was a bit surprised by it.
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Jenson Button on how different NASCAR is in comparison to F1
Jenson Button, during his F1 career, was never introduced to the concept of spotters, but in NASCAR, some spotters have a key role, and Button got the first taste of it at the NASCAR COTA practice session. While shedding light on it, he added, “It’s also interesting having spotters. I’ve never had spotters before.”
“So, I’ve got guys in my ear the whole way around telling me there’s traffic behind, there’s traffic in front – it’s quite soothing. I kind of like it. Our spotters have very soothing voices, which I think is good and it’s especially going to be good on Sunday when it’s raving out there. That’s something else to learn – having my mirrors, so I can see around me. But they tell me all the fun information about what’s going on around me.”
“As I noticed here in practice, people don’t move out of the way when they’re on a slow lap, and you’re on a quick lap. There’s a lot to learn. It’s a very, very different sports than what I’m used to.” Looking at the comments of Jenson Button, one thing is clear, while he is still figuring out everything that goes on in NASCAR, he is enjoying every second of it. In his opinion, it is a great opportunity for him to learn new things and adapt as much as possible so that he would be able to do a solid race in front of the fans in COTA.
His F1 compatriot, Kimi Raikkonen, is also taking part in the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA, and it would be interesting to see who would manage to get the better of the other. Button was half a second quicker than Raikkonen in practice, but considering the pedigree of the Finnish driver, he would definitely bounce back during the race. According to you, how much of an impact would the two F1 stalwarts be able to make during the COTA race?
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Rishabh Negi
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