Button Decided on His Pit Strategy in Australia

Although praising his team for the wonderful pit stop strategy during Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, Jenson Button seems to have orchestrated it all by himself. According to the team's boss Martin Whitmarsh, the team actually asked the reigning world champion between pitting early for a fresh set of slick tires – when everyone was running on intermediate rubber – or wait for a few more laps.

As he noticed that the racing line on the Albert Park track had already dried out, Button told his team that he wants to pit early. At start, it seemed like a poor decision for the Brit, as he had a hard time keeping his car on the track during his out lap. However, once everyone started pitting for slick tires, he emerged in 2nd place in the race, behind leader Sebastian Vettel.

A few laps later, Vettel's loose wheel nut caused some intense damage to his left wheel mounting, and the German went off the track. From that point on, Button drove majestically to his first win as a McLaren driver.

“What a fantastic role he played in achieving that first victory. He made the call. We offered him the opportunity to do it, he was brave enough to do it, and that contributed to his win. Then he had to keep calm, make the tires last, drive smoothly and keep the pace up,” said Whitmarsh.

Button himself admitted that his call was a true gamble, in which he thought he had lost. As soon as he went back on the track, he made a short excursion to the run-off area, after which he finally got up to speed.

“I thought I had made a catastrophic decision, thought it was a mistake. Once I got up to speed, after a mistake at Turn 3, it felt pretty good and I was able to overtake a few cars as they stopped. It was a good call,” added the 30-year old champion.