Top 35 Jenson Button Quotes

I think fans of the sport have a good understanding now of how fit Formula One drivers need to be.

Resting for me is fitness training.

Women don’t get the same opportunities that men get in racing, so they don’t get to learn race craft.

I felt confident at 24, but I am a better driver now.

We go through the whole season working on next season’s car and developing the car and making sure we fit in the car and all that sort of stuff. And we obviously give ideas of what we would hope next year’s car would have even if it’s small things like buttons on the steering wheel and different positions and whatever.

To drive an F1 car you have to be a little mad. On the morning of a race there’s a mix of excitement and fear. If it’s a wet track, then it’s worse as you’re not in control most of the time, which is the thing all drivers fear the most.

When I do retire, I know for a fact that I’ll never be able to replace the incredible feeling I get when I’m driving an F1 car.

I think social networks are really working for the drivers, because we’re able to talk directly to fans and they get first-hand information. And I think it’s great for the partners as well and the businesses that are involved in Formula One.

When it comes to my racing career I’m very driven and very selfish. People who are around me at races will know that I’m a different person here than in my personal life. I completely blank people at races. I need to be focused. I’m rude.

I love the role of being the experienced driver and that is definitely the case next year – I think I am the most experienced guy in F1 next year.

It is such a special feeling to win a grand prix.

If I run I lose so much weight, which I need because you’re limited on weight when you are a tall driver. And have you seen marathon runners? They’re quite skinny.

I always think I should try to get to bed early, but then I can’t stop myself from watching telly and fiddling around on the net.

In my hometown there is a pub named after me – The Frome Flyer on Jenson Avenue. How cool is that?!

I need to develop a car and engineer a car in a position that feels comfortable for me, and I don’t think anyone can do a better job than I can in that position. The problem for me is if I can’t get the car there I do struggle more than some.

My time at Honda was amazing. Some of my best times in Formula One, actually. I might not have won races, just one race, but I had a lot of fun.

That Monaco crash was quite a big one – I pulled 33g when I hit the wall, which is a lot. It’s a weird sensation – like all my skin and flesh was being pulled off my bones.

My ‘Movember’ moustache was never going to be as big as Nigel Mansell’s, but I tried my best. The amazing thing is that when you try to grow a moustache, you notice everyone else’s. There are some amazing moustaches on the grid.

My father did everything for me. He was awesome.

You look back and you remember the good, the bad and the ugly.

I like old tunes when I’m driving. They’re fun and uplifting. Billy Ocean, that kind of thing.

I don’t purposely speed, but I might go over by five or six miles an hour from time to time. It doesn’t give me a buzz driving on normal roads, because I can’t go fast enough. It’s never going to be anything like an F1 car.

I think as a 20-year-old you expect life to always be easy. You get given a good hand and the chance to race in Formula One. You think the driver can make the difference, can make up for everything else within the team. But that is not the case. You are racing in such a competitive sport so that doesn’t happen.

I have made lots of mistakes in terms of contracts and spending money when I shouldn’t have spent money.

We all drive differently and have different styles. For me I need a car I can develop beneath me and feel comfortable in. If the car feels neutral and unbalanced it doesn’t work for me.

A lot of people think Formula One isn’t a sport because everyone drives a car when they go to work in the morning. But we’re pulling up to six G on a corner or during breaking, which is almost like being a fighter pilot. So we have to do a lot of work on our neck muscles.

When I was in Japan with my girlfriend Jessica, she would have had acupuncture every day if she could. I can just about stomach going to a chiropractor and I visited a talented one when I was there, but when he tried a needle on me, it was horrible. My muscles tightened and it didn’t work at all.

I’ve spent as much as 30 grand on a watch but it’s not about flaunting my wealth. I don’t have many extravagances but watches are my biggest one. I must have 30 of them now. I’ve been collecting since the age of nine, when I won a black TAG in a karting event.

When I’m on my own, I can be negative. I need my friends and family around to help pick me up if I’ve had a bad qualifying session. I think insecurity plagues a lot of sportspeople.

If someone was making a movie about F1 in the last six months, they wouldn’t need to add a Hollywood ending. If they do make that movie, it’s got to be ‘The Curious Case Of Jenson Button,’ where I’ve lived my life backwards. I’d like Johnny Depp to play me but he wouldn’t be quite right.

Yeah, I’m the Brit who isn’t Lewis Hamilton that woke up and realised he was good. I got that tag because I was young, flying around in jets and driving fast cars. I always took my driving seriously, but I suppose I enjoyed life… But I’m not a playboy.

The fast, flowing parts, the high-speed corners, that’s where a Formula One car is at its best – changes of direction, pulling high g-forces left and right.

It doesn’t matter who wins if I don’t. I only care if I win. I’m jealous of anyone else who wins.

I always sleep really well, particularly before a race, when the adrenaline’s pumping.

My school reports always used to point out that my concentration levels were appalling. I never listened in class because I was always daydreaming about racing. I never thought for a moment about doing anything else. There was no guarantee that I’d make a career in it but I never had any plan B.