By Phil Huff
March 16 2007

A downbeat Jenson Button sat in on the Friday Five press conference earlier today, admitting that his 13th fastest time is realistic. Also talking about tyres, tunnels, and saving the earth from yachts and private jets, here's what he had to say... Jenson, I'm sure 13th is not what you were hoping for…

I think it's probably quite realistic in a way. We haven't had the best winter really. We've been improving the car all the time but it's still not where we want it to be. As I've said before, this weekend is going to be a tough weekend for us, it's also a very important weekend for us, to completely understand what our issues are with the car.

Have the problems basically been the handling, balance of the car?

Yeah, we're really struggling, as a few other drivers behind us have been, we're really struggling under braking. We just can't slow the car down, and we've got a stability issue as well. That's not all really… that's part of it. We understand the issues, I think, and we've just got to keep working very hard and this weekend is going to be a tough one in the way of results, I think.

With these Fridays like this, is it difficult not to be distracted by the fact that it's obviously followed up by two days of qualifying and racing, rather than concentrating on solving your problems?

No, not really, because I think coming into this weekend we sort of knew where we were going to be, and that hasn't changed. We haven't suddenly changed our views on things. We know where we are and we've just got to get on with the weekend. Tomorrow's practice is also important to us to work a little bit more with the balance, because the longer runs are obviously slightly worse than the one timed laps so we've got to work a bit on that and get a consistent balance. Then we will be looking OK for the race.

So is there light at the end of the tunnel and if so, how far away is it?

I don't know how far it is yet. That's the only thing, I don't know how long it is. I'm with a very strong team, Honda are very strong and we're very focused on our job and we're very committed. We're not just going to sit back and forget about this year. This is an important year and we need to get our heads down and solve our problems and that's exactly what we're doing.

What is your impression of the public response to Honda's environmental message?

I think it has been pretty good, as it should be. I think it is a fantastic idea and I fully back it.

In that light, have any of you guys made any changes to your personal lives, as Jenson has done by getting himself a very expensive Honda hybrid car to travel from his yacht to his jet?

If you actually checked, I haven't actually got a yacht or a jet... Very funny!

I think it perfectly puts forward the reason behind it – awareness. As you can see, I don't think a lot of people are aware of the big issues. I think it is a great idea. We get through to hundreds of millions of people and I wasn't aware of the issues six months ago and now I am and I have changed my life in little ways. It might not be big ways, but it makes a difference, if we are capable of making these changes, which I think we are.

Did you run both types of tyres today and can you tell us about the performance differences between them and will that be a headache in the race?

Yes, we have run both tyres and I didn't have any clearer feeling of a big difference between the tyres, yet, but hopefully tomorrow morning will reveal a bit more.