Button: A speed from another world
LE MANS: Former Formula One world champion Jenson Button admits that his debut in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race is likely to leave him with the sensation of driving at 500km/h, “a speed from another world.”
Button is one of the draw cards at the classic French endurance race this weekend along with fellow former F1 world champion and McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.
The British star, F1 champion in 2009, said he is eager to get his race underway but is wary of driving at night.
“I have only done two laps in the night and others at sunrise so I do not have much experience but I can already say that it is difficult,” said Button.
“But we will get accustomed to the darkness.”
Button pinpointed where he believes the greatest challenge will be — the Porsche curves.
“That is a huge shock! At night, you feel you are going at 500km/h. The blue lights (which signal overtaking), they too are a shock. You have to give your eyes and your brain time to get used to it.”
Button, 38, who retired from Formula One before the 2016 season, will race at Le Mans for Russian team SMP, sharing the drive with Mikhail Aleshin, who has raced in IndyCar, and Vitaly Petrov, another F1 refugee.
“It’s very different to Formula One. What surprised me most is the speed around the fast bends. It’s phenomenal.
“In the ‘S Porsche’ sector, the speed is from another world. If you get the chance to follow the race there, go and see the cars pass.”
Button said it had always been a dream of his to race at Le Mans where he will share the spotlight with Alonso who is looking to complete the second leg of motor racing’s ‘Triple Crown’ of F1, Le Mans and Indy 500 titles.
Only Graham Hill has managed the feat.
“For a driver, Le Mans is something special and it’s fantastic to drive such fast cars.”
Button knows that the Toyotas — one of which is likely to take Alonso to victory tomorrow — will be virtually impossible to catch.
“These guys haven’t been idle! They have tested so much in terms of reliability. I cannot even imagine how many 24-hour races they have completed before arriving here,” said Button.
“Their situation is completely different from all the other teams in the (elite) LMP1 category. But 24 hours of racing is extreme for any car. Even more when the cars are hybrid.”
Meanwhile, Alonso is not the only driver chasing the ‘Triple Crown’. Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya, also racing the French classic for the first time, has already won the Monaco F1 Grand Prix in 2003 and Indy 500 in 2000 and 2015.
“If the chance presents itself, then yes,” said 42-year-old Montoya when asked if he would be pressing for the ‘Triple Crown’.
“But if it doesn’t, that will be OK for me. My life doesn’t revolve around the Triple Crown.
“I have never done Le Mans, I told myself that it would be fun to experience it and it is for this reason that I came.”
Le Mans starts today.