Button 'thrilled' after podium finish

Jenson Button described his first Formula One podium finish as “amazing” today after he earned third place at the Malaysian Grand Prix, behind race winner Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Schumacher once again demonstrated his mastery to become the first man to win this race, introduced to the calendar in 1999, on three separate occasions.

Montoya was five seconds behind in his Williams with Button third, just 11.5 seconds off Schumacher and ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari, both McLarens and both Renaults.

The 24-year-old was doused with champagne by Schumacher and Montoya on the podium and emerged sticky and sweaty but with a beaming smile to leap into the arms of his father John and give BAR’s team principal David Richards a hearty embrace.

“There are no words to describe the feeling of your first podium and this has been a long time coming,” he said.

“It is amazing. It is as much for the team as me. They are ecstatic, so am I. It is the high of my career.

"It is the first time I have been on the podium in four years.

“It’s been a struggle but with a lot of hard work it is a fantastic feeling to be here.

“I got absolutely drenched with champagne and could not breathe. I just hope there is a lot more of that to come this season.

“I couldn’t see much because I was covered but it is a great feeling to be on the podium and it makes you want it more.

“It was great to see the whole crowd going crazy when they called my name.”

Button, who qualified in sixth place, got his first scare of the day just after the start when he touched wheels with Jarno Trulli in the Renault.

The pair went on to enjoy a ding-dong battle through the first half of the race before Button got the edge and trained his sights on third place.

He has suffered mechanical failures here in the past and today had to manage a series of problems over the last 10 laps just to finish.

There were nervous moments in the BAR camp, particularly when Button’s team-mate Takuma Sato was forced to retire with a blown engine.

“This really is like a win for us at the moment. We have made such a good step forward and to get a third where we have been very competitive is a great feeling,” he said.

“I hit Jarno at the start, we hit wheels and I was very worried there might be something wrong.

“Then I had Rubens catching me towards the end.

“Every lap they were saying slower, slower – I was like ’how? I cant go much slower I am going to lose so much time’. We were short on the revs also and it was a nightmare trying to control how quick to go with the Ferrari coming up.

“We were on the limit to get to the end of the race. It was a relief to come to the final lap still three seconds ahead.

“It was a really nice feeling to have a car that was so competitive throughout the race distance. To be quicker than the McLarens, to be quicker than the Renaults is a great step forward for us.

“This time we were competitive enough to be third, to actually get past a Ferrari and a McLaren and a Renault throughout the race.”

Barrichello finished fourth with Trulli coming home fifth and David Coulthard sixth. His McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, last year’s winner, was forced to retire with an engine failure.

Spain’s Fernando Alonso, having started at the back of the grid, made a flying start and charged up to eighth.

Despite employing a two-stop strategy when all the other leading cars pitted three times, he could not get past Coulthard and after Raikkonen bowed out he finished with a rewarding seventh place.

As Alonso charged up the field from the start, Australia’s Mark Webber in the Jaguar plummeted the opposite way.

From second on the grid – the first time the Australian had ever made the front row in Formula One – his Jaguar made a disastrous start and he dropped back to 13th.

Everything then just fell apart. Webber got a puncture after being hit by Ralf Schumacher, was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits and his day was finally ended when he spun out.

“I am really disappointed with the outcome today after all our hard work and our fantastic place on the front row of the grid,” he said.

“After overtaking Ralf he twice hit me from behind and my right rear tyre had a puncture and the car may have suffered some damage too.

“The drive-through penalty added to my troubles and then after going off-line to let people overtake me I spun under braking.

“A very difficult end for us which should not have been the case.”

For BAR and the Button family it was a day they will never forget.

“It hasn’t really sunk in, it’s been a long time coming,” said John Button, Jenson’s father. “A lucky third would have been nice but an earned third means so much more.”