Button baffled by Nurburgring go-slow

Jenson Button and his BAR-Honda team return home this week to lick their wounds and frantically search for a route back to the front of the grid.

Button returned from BAR’s two-race ban in yesterday’s European Grand Prix but despite starting the weekend with huge confidence, the 25-year-old limped home in 10th after suffering a sudden drop in performance.

Button was at a loss to explain his lack of grip at the Nurburgring but hopes three days of extensive testing this week, beginning at Silverstone on Wednesday before a switch to Italy for Thursday and Friday, will see him back on the pace.

The Englishman, who was third in the world championship last season but has yet to score a point in 2005, said: “I am very surprised we had a very good car in testing and at Imola.

“All the work that we’ve done with the aerodynamics hasn’t really translated into a good race pace. It is very strange and we don’t really understand why.

“This week we are testing at Silverstone and at Monza – we are going to be doing a lot of work, testing with the aerodynamics. We will test the new bits and the old bits and see where we are because we shouldn’t be this slow. The car has been very quick in testing so it’s a very strange situation.

“At the moment we are not where we thought we would be and there is a lot of hard work to be done just finding out where we’ve gone wrong because when we tested this car it seemed very strong.”

Button was downcast after the race, bemoaning BAR’s lack of pace which he believes is all down to changes to their car.

“Pretty much everyone expect for the Minardis and Jordans were quicker than us,” he said. “It’s not that suddenly everyone has gone quicker, it’s just that we are not where we should be.

“We have very low grip. When you are two seconds a lap slower it is like racing a Minardi, it makes it very difficult.”

But Button has faith in BAR’s ability to bounce back and cites last season’s consistent improvement as a sign of better things to come.

BAR’s run to second in the constructors’ championship was helped by constant improvement and Button hopes that trends continues.

“For me, as a team we have made more improvements than any other team,” he said. “Last year it was us and Ferrari who were making the big steps forward throughout the year. It’s so very important and it shows a strong team.”

Sporting director Gil de Ferran has endured a turbulent time at the helm since joining prior to the San Marino Grand Prix.

The Brazilian saw his team disqualified at Imola and handed a two-race ban and he candidly admits BAR were not good enough in Germany yesterday.

He said: “Basically our car just wasn’t fast enough. At this stage we do not fully understand why but we will investigate this during our tests. We clearly need to find a solution before we leave for the races in North America.”