Go Danica!
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,305
Likes: 820
From: Nowhere
I just lost what little respect I had for JB:
Button happy to crash out
The BAR driver didn't want to finish in fourth place
Jenson Button admitted here Sunday that he was happier to crash out of the Canadian Grand Prix than to hand his potential podium finish to World Champion Michael Schumacher.
Button has struggled this season and is yet to pick up a point after he buckled under pressure from Ferrari driver Schumacher and hit the wall at the final corner on the 46th lap of the 70-lap race. But the Briton, who started the race from pole position, insisted:
"It has been a disappointing end to what has been a very encouraging weekend, but I'd rather crash in third than finish fourth really.
The BAR driver didn't want to finish in fourth place
Jenson Button admitted here Sunday that he was happier to crash out of the Canadian Grand Prix than to hand his potential podium finish to World Champion Michael Schumacher.
Button has struggled this season and is yet to pick up a point after he buckled under pressure from Ferrari driver Schumacher and hit the wall at the final corner on the 46th lap of the 70-lap race. But the Briton, who started the race from pole position, insisted:
"It has been a disappointing end to what has been a very encouraging weekend, but I'd rather crash in third than finish fourth really.
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 28,318
Likes: 9
From: This is not my house!
I'm not sure that makes ANY sense to me whatsoever. I can't recall for sure but wasn't Button ahead of Schu when he crashed? Doesn't that mean he could have kept him off the podium if he hadn't crashed? Doesn't that mean he DID hand him the podium finish?
Or is he confident that Schumi would pass him?
Or is he confident that Schumi would pass him?
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,305
Likes: 820
From: Nowhere
The rest of the article implies MS was faster and would have passed him. JB basically said he'd rather push the car beyond its limits and wreck instead of earning 5 points for his team (a whopping 1 less than MS would have earned).
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,305
Likes: 820
From: Nowhere
Whole article:
Jenson Button admitted here Sunday that he was happier to crash out of the Canadian Grand Prix than to hand his potential podium finish to World Champion Michael Schumacher.
Button has struggled this season and is yet to pick up a point after he buckled under pressure from Ferrari driver Schumacher and hit the wall at the final corner on the 46th lap of the 70-lap race. But the Briton, who started the race from pole position, insisted:
"It has been a disappointing end to what has been a very encouraging weekend, but I'd rather crash in third than finish fourth really.
"It was completely my mistake. I went pretty wide and I thought I've got to try and get round the corner. I hit the kerb pretty hard and I bounced across the circuit. I didn't hit the wall that hard but it ripped the tyre off," added the British driver.
Button was undone by a new tall kerb on the inside of the final corner, which he dismissed as harmless on the Thursday before the race, and admitted he could do nothing about the accident once he made the mistake.
"I was going to hit the wall as soon as I hit that kerb because I didn't have any wheels on the circuit," he said. "It jumped off the kerb and landed and I thought it was okay and then I lost all grip.
"Michael behind me was pushing me pretty hard and I should have gone across the green stuff but I thought if I did that I would have to let Michael pass and I didn't want to do that."
Button's team are on the comeback trail after struggling early in the season and then being banned for two races for failing to prove their car legal at the San Marino Grand Prix.
They were confident he could race for a podium place after he put the car on pole, thanks to a light fuel load, in Saturday practice and he could have achieved their aim if he had not thrown the car in the wall.
The race was won by McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen after both Renault drivers dropped out of the lead and Button said: "We were not on the pace of the leaders but it was looking good for a podium finish. To end the day with no points is frustrating but we have got to look at the positives from the weekend. We have made real progress and now have to work hard to make the most of that in Indianapolis next week."
Button's team-mate Takuma Sato had his race ruined by Jacques Villeneuve, who hit the rear of his car early on and forced him to pit for repairs, with the team changing the whole rear end of the car during the race. Because results for this weekend's race affect the order of qualifying running for next weekend's event at Indianapolis the team put Sato back out late in the race but he crashed out with brake failure late on.
It was a difficult race for the Japanese driver. "The mechanics did a fantastic job to get me back in the race today and it was a pity we were not able to finish. But we hope to do better in Indianapolis," said Sato.
Button has struggled this season and is yet to pick up a point after he buckled under pressure from Ferrari driver Schumacher and hit the wall at the final corner on the 46th lap of the 70-lap race. But the Briton, who started the race from pole position, insisted:
"It has been a disappointing end to what has been a very encouraging weekend, but I'd rather crash in third than finish fourth really.
"It was completely my mistake. I went pretty wide and I thought I've got to try and get round the corner. I hit the kerb pretty hard and I bounced across the circuit. I didn't hit the wall that hard but it ripped the tyre off," added the British driver.
Button was undone by a new tall kerb on the inside of the final corner, which he dismissed as harmless on the Thursday before the race, and admitted he could do nothing about the accident once he made the mistake.
"I was going to hit the wall as soon as I hit that kerb because I didn't have any wheels on the circuit," he said. "It jumped off the kerb and landed and I thought it was okay and then I lost all grip.
"Michael behind me was pushing me pretty hard and I should have gone across the green stuff but I thought if I did that I would have to let Michael pass and I didn't want to do that."
Button's team are on the comeback trail after struggling early in the season and then being banned for two races for failing to prove their car legal at the San Marino Grand Prix.
They were confident he could race for a podium place after he put the car on pole, thanks to a light fuel load, in Saturday practice and he could have achieved their aim if he had not thrown the car in the wall.
The race was won by McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen after both Renault drivers dropped out of the lead and Button said: "We were not on the pace of the leaders but it was looking good for a podium finish. To end the day with no points is frustrating but we have got to look at the positives from the weekend. We have made real progress and now have to work hard to make the most of that in Indianapolis next week."
Button's team-mate Takuma Sato had his race ruined by Jacques Villeneuve, who hit the rear of his car early on and forced him to pit for repairs, with the team changing the whole rear end of the car during the race. Because results for this weekend's race affect the order of qualifying running for next weekend's event at Indianapolis the team put Sato back out late in the race but he crashed out with brake failure late on.
It was a difficult race for the Japanese driver. "The mechanics did a fantastic job to get me back in the race today and it was a pity we were not able to finish. But we hope to do better in Indianapolis," said Sato.
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 28,318
Likes: 9
From: This is not my house!
The article is funny. Where is it from www.bar.com? 
It sides with Button after a silly statement like that AND it says that JV ruined Sato's race
... JV hit him from behind and both JV and Sato came in. JV ended up 9th... Sato failed to finish because he hit the wall. The article claims it was a brake failure.
"Button was undone by a tall new kerb..." Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that he drove into it.
It sides with Button after a silly statement like that AND it says that JV ruined Sato's race
... JV hit him from behind and both JV and Sato came in. JV ended up 9th... Sato failed to finish because he hit the wall. The article claims it was a brake failure. "Button was undone by a tall new kerb..." Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that he drove into it.
