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Button: First races crucial for championship

10 March 2010

World Champion Jenson Button heads to Bahrain as World Champion this weekend for the start of what promises to be one of the best seasons Formula 1 has ever had to offer. Having switched from Brawn to McLaren alongside fellow Champion Lewis Hamilton, the Frome driver risks making no predictions.


Having won six of the season's first seven races last year before preserving his championship lead until claiming the title at the penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil, Button's race-winning pattern of 2010 has been predicted as the opposite by many, with a new environment to adapt to for the Englishman.

"I'm actually really looking forward to the start of the season," the 30-year-old told the official F1 website. "It will be a thrill and an honour to sit on the grid with the number 1 on my car - it'll actually be the first time in my car racing career that that's ever happened - but I won't be spending too much time thinking about the drivers who want to take it away from me.

"Obviously, my aim is to retain the title and we'll need to start the year extremely strongly if we're going to achieve that because, more than ever these days, World Championships seem to be won at the start of the season rather than at the end of it."


Button is yet to win a race since his victory in Istanbul last season
Button is yet to win a race since his victory in Istanbul last season

Describing his motivation as 'fresh' ahead of his eleventh season in the sport, Button reiterated the reasons for his decision of last November. "If I'd stayed where I was, I don't think I'd have had quite the same determination as I do now," he explained, "and that's due to a combination of things such as my familiarity with the team and the feeling that you're repeating yourself."

Happy with his working relationship with Hamilton, Jenson is betting nothing on the upcoming campaign. "I'd advise you to save your money!" he jokingly warned.


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2010 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix
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