Jenson Button has revealed that he tried to join Red Bull at the end of 2008, when Honda decided to abruptly leave F1. The British driver was convinced that the team he was driving for was going to collapse. In the end, he stayed with Brawn GP and became world champion, but he admits he didn’t imagine such success.
“No, no. I tried to leave, because it didn’t seem like the team was going to continue to exist,” remembers Button. “So I inquired and my manager spoke to Christian Horner about a seat in his team and the junior team and they said ‘no, all the contracts are closed.'”
Button thinks that it wouldn’t have taken much for the team to never see the light of day under a new identity. Similarly, he believes they wouldn’t have been successful if it hadn’t been bought by Ross Brawn.
“We found people interested in the team, but I don’t think it would have worked out this way. Ross came and bought the team for a pound, with his leadership, and that’s a big reason why it worked.”
“The car was designed to work with a Honda engine and we had to ask, even plead, for someone to give us an engine to put in the back, to adapt to the car.”
“A lot of money was spent on this car. It’s no coincidence that we were competitive in 2009, but we had to find another engine and the guys did an extraordinary job to put it together.”
“We tested and we were the fastest in the first test we did, when everyone else had been testing for days before that. That’s when the breakthrough happened and we realized we had something strong.”