Last August, just three days before the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, Mobil 1 the Grid caught up with World Championship front runner Jenson Button, enjoying some down time in Istanbul…

If you would like to watch the video interview you can do so here, alternatively, our full transcript is below for you to read.

So Jenson first of all if you just cast your mind back to December of 2008, Honda had pulled out of Formula 1, your life as an F1 driver as you knew it then was hanging in the balance, what were your feelings back then?

Erm, my feelings back in December er you know, when I got the call that Honda were pulling out I was obviously very disappointed and I didn’t exactly know where I’d be in 2009 so, it was a very tough time and all I could do was really push the team to try to find a sponsor or someone to take over the team. And that’s exactly what I did you know, me and my manager worked as hard as we can to, to help the team out as much as we could and in the end the team er was able to race in 2009 and I think, you know, if this car wasn’t able to race it would have been very disappointing for everyone involved.

Obviously you were pushing to be in Formula 1 the next year, how were you able to maintain your focus?
It’s, well, I mean I’ve got good people around me and I knew that we had a good team of people and if we could go racing we would be very competitive. Erm so, you know, it was a very tough situation er, but I knew that we had a lot of trust from the team and I, from every, bit of information that the team had about this season they would tell me, so they kept me in the loop which is important. Erm, for me this was the only option in 2009 because there were a couple of other options but, nothing that was very exciting to me, er, and would not further my career so this is obviously what I pushed on with.

At what stage did you realise Brawn GP was going to happen, and how frantic were the preparations ahead of that first race?
Well the first time I knew was er, was the day before we jumped in the car to do the shakedown which was in, I think it was in, march er end of February march and er, you know, it’s very late in the season to suddenly announce that you’ll be racing, and I knew exactly the same time as the factory, I was at the factory with all the other erm workers there, and we found out together. The next day we shook the car down at Silverstone just to make sure everything was ok and it went fantastically well, and then, we had sort of one and a half tests to really find a, a bit of direction with the car and make sure that everything was reliable. And to work with a Mercedes Benz engine as it’s obviously very new to us so, there wasn’t much testing before the first race but I think we were pretty ready and obviously went and won the first race, so we must have been reasonably erm you know, I think we understood the car pretty well by that point.

Even from those early impressions of the car, could you tell there was something really good here, that this is a really great package?
Well the first day no because it was at the little circuit at Silverstone so it was just a reliability test really and everything went very smoothly. But then we tested a few days later in Barcelona and that’s when I felt that the car was competitive. After my first run in practice er we were the quickest car on the circuit by sort of half a second, six tenths. And forgetting the time the car felt good to drive and you know, I could really explore the limits of the car within that amount of laps which is which is unusual so. Yeah it was a nice position to be in and erm I think it was a shock to everyone that was testing that day.

And Ross Brawn of course had a fantastic reputation in Formula 1 for a long time, what is it like working with him from a driver’s point of view?
Oh it’s great you know, I worked with Ross last season and in difficult times and erm, he’s a good guy to work with you know, he’s er won many world championships and he’s been through ever situation possible. So he knows what it takes to be a world champion and he knows also how difficult the season can be, you know, you have your ups and downs, but hopefully it all balances itself out in the end. So he’s been a good mentor in that way erm, for me to understand where I am at this moment in time and what I need to do. But also he’s bought a lot of confidence to people in the team that they have er, sort of leadership now which we didn’t have in the past and er, he er, he’s a great listener and I think erm, people love that you know, he really listens to what people have to say within the team, he makes everyone feel a part of it so. It is something that we haven’t had for many years, er, and it’s something that we definitely needed. You know, we had a lot of very talented people within the team, erm, but they really had no, no direction if you like you know, they can do their job very well but it was working with others that we struggled with so. Er it’s nice that we are all sort of, we are sort of one big family now.

How does the set up at Brawn GP compare with your experience of driving for other Formula 1 teams?
Well the team is sort of like in 2004 when we, we got 11 podiums I think that year, didn’t win a race but I got a poll position in Imola. Erm, and, we had sort of a 450 strong team, at Brackley and that’s sort of what we’ve got now and for me, that’s the way that a team works at its best, when it’s a smaller team. Er I think you can get carried away with employing too many people which I think we did a couple of years ago, erm and I think it just gets a little bit too confusing. So I think with a smaller team that we have now, four hundred and fifty odd people, four hundred people, it’s the perfect family. And it was the same back then.

In your wildest dreams, could you ever have predicted that you’d be entering your most competitive season ever to date?
After such a tough season no it was a little bit unexpected to be started. It wasn’t unexpected to start it with a good result you know, over the winter, in the wind tunnel we could see that the car was strong. We didn’t know how strong but we knew we’d be at the front of the field, because looking at everyone’s times in testing er, they were all doing the same sort of lap times and we were thinking well they are either, all, they’ve either all built a fantastic car or built a pretty average car, and er, it was that they’d built a pretty average car, so we rocked up at the first race, with sort of three or four tenths on everyone and we were able to go and win so, you know, we knew the car was strong, but until you get that first win, it’s er, you never know what’s going to happen and erm, so it was a relief for everyone more than anything else to win, to win in Melbourne.

If you had to isolate one victory so far this season, which win would you say - that was my best race this year?
I don’t, it’s a difficult one because I, to pick one win this season is very tough because, every single victory none of them were easy they don’t, they don’t just appear, wow I’m in the lead of the race this is easy let’s cruise home, you know, it’s not like that, you know, the first win in Australia was very special to whole team after, after such a tough winter, erm, winning in Malaysia again was spectacular because of the conditions. Er, Monaco is always a very special event because I think everybody wants to win, win Monaco, erm it’s a very tough circuit and er you’ve really got to push the car to the limit and the circuit itself you know, you are scraping barriers and you are calling laps so for me that was a pretty special weekend. But also Turkey, you know, Turkey is where the car felt at its best this season. And we got a win that was probably the easiest grand prix for me this season but very enjoyable because I was driving a car that I just loved and er, and enjoyed very much.

After such a strong first half of the season it’s been a few races since you’ve been on the podium. For the viewers out there, and for the general world wide audience who might not follow Formula 1 so closely, what would you put that down to?
Well the erm, Silverstone, Nurburgring, and Hungary were all very tough weekends for the team, because we, we didn’t have a car that was as competitive as we expected and we struggled in the colder conditions. Er, so really it was very difficult, because er for some reason our car, we can’t get our tyres working when it’s cold. And that’s an issue obviously for here in Spa and we’ve had to work a lot over the last few weeks to try and get tyre temperature. But in the last race in Valencia it was very hot but I just had one of those weekends that was just er, to forget really. In qualifying I hit a bump and shifted to fourth accidentally so I lost loads of time, and in the race I was in fifth and then I was trying to get past Vettel at the start and he came across and blocked me and I had to lift, I got past about four or five cars then got stuck. It’s just one of those frustrating races Valencia. Valencia is the only bad race I think I’ve had this year and we’ve just got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

And what do you say to those people who keep saying its ‘championship nerves’, what do you say to those people?
Oh I don’t really say anything you know, for me, erm, I know that I’m good in difficult situations you know, I’ve been at Formula 1 long enough and er, you know, I’ve never been in this position in Formula 1 but in every category that you race that championship is important. Not as important as Formula 1 for sure but I’ve won many championships along the way and er, I’ve won many races so no it’s, it’s not nerves, it was just a tough race in Valencia and you can’t have a perfect weekend every time you go racing, it just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t happen and it, it doesn’t you know, not any driver in Formula 1 that has won a championship has had a perfect race, every race he goes to that season, so it happens and we’ve just got to make sure that we’ve got to act together here and erm, and I do a better job in qualifying, I think we need to be a little bit more aggressive than I was at the last race, I mean I’m in a different position to anyone else in the grid, whereas I’m, in the lead eighteen points. I can’t afford to crash whereas you know, the people behind me need to be aggressive to catch me so, you know, maybe I was a little bit cautious in er, in Valencia and that’s something that I’ve gotta, sort out and maybe be, be a bit more aggressive and I’m not worried about that at all, I’m quite excited about this weekend and I think our car should work alright here, even though it is quite cold.

Rubens had a popular win last time out in Valencia, do you see him now as your main championship threat?
No I don’t think that Rubens is the main threat I mean, Rubens is obviously very quick and he did a good job at the weekend and all season he has been very competitive. Erm, but you’d have to say that the red bulls are the ones to worry about because you don’t know where they are going to be quick, how quick they are going to be erm. You know, Rubens is driving the car as me for sure he’s going to be better on some weekends and I’ll be better on others. That’s the way it is cos you know, when you have a competitive team mate, that’s the way it is and that’s what we have, and it’s the same with red bull you know, they’ve got two very competitive drivers. The good thing is that red bull do have two competitive drivers and they’ll be taking points off each other, er hopefully. Erm, but as I said Rubens is driving the same car as me and I know what the car can do. Er, whereas with the red bull, some circuits we go to, they are three or four tenths quicker and we can’t do anything about it, and we’ve just got to get the best points we can, and that’s the most worrying thing you know, not knowing, not knowing how competitive they are going to be at a race when you come to it because spa, it’s a fast circuit, should be quite cool. They’ll be competitive here and we can’t do anything about it you know, I can’t, I can only do as well as the car, or drive as quick as the car will let me so I’d say red bull are the biggest threat, but, as I said Rubens is also driving very well.

The Red Bulls mathematically are slipping away slightly, especially after Valencia, how much of a threat are they to your aspirations?
Well you know, if they are quick over the last six races and they are quicker than us erm and we can’t beat them in any race, that’s four points per race, and er, you, you I don’t think I’d win the championship then, so they are still a threat and you can’t count them out because they are improving their car all the time, I know they are putting a lot of effort into this season and er, you know Sebastien is working in overdrive to push for this championship so... you know, you’ve, they are going to be tough completion but er, realistically I’ve gotta stop, I can’t be thinking about that, I’ll leave that for the engineers and strategy people to work out but for me it’s erm, I’ve got to get my head down, be a little bit more aggressive and bring some points home.

Does it bring you a little bit of comfort, the fact that there are quite a few guys sitting there at the top of the championship, all taking points off each other?
Yeah but also the McLaren seems to be more similar to our car than the red bull so, you know, when you’ve got fast circuits like this the red bull is strong, and we’re, behind them erm, whereas when we go to circuits like Valencia and , and Singapore, the McLaren’s are going to be strong on circuits that we should be strong. So, in, you know, in a way they are taking more points off of us than they are off of the red bull so, I don’t know if it’s a, it’s a good situation or not. But erm, the biggest problem for us and for red bull is the KERS cars. You know, the McLaren’s and the Ferraris they have kers and it, it makes if very difficult to come up with a strategy for the strategy er crew, because erm, there is a good chance they are going to overtake you at the start so it makes it very difficult from that point of view. But it’s the same for red bull and for us, so it’s something that we’ve both gotta work with.

You’ve got six races left this season, you start to go long haul again, away from the factories, how can the team perform for the remainder of the year?
Yeah good you know, we’ve got new parts coming to almost every race, so it’s what you need in Formula 1 this days and with such a big er change in the regulations aerodynamically over the winter, throughout the season I think people have improved their car by a couple of seconds so you’ve got to keep up with that and every race you go to, it’s sort of two tenths, three tenths you need to put on the car to keep level with the teams around you so it’s, it’s a tough season for everyone and er, I know that we’re fully focused and I think that we’re all doing a fantastic job at Brackley. And obviously Mercedes are doing a great job with the engines and I think we’ve proven that this year with a very consistent season.

In the back of your mind you must be thinking World Championship, what would it mean to you to become Britain’s latest World Champion?
Er I don’t know, I don’t know until it happens you know, I don’t know what it’s going to feel like if it does happen so at the moment, I’ve thought about it too much and talked about it too much in interviews so for me I need to focus race by race and just picking up the points and erm, the end result is the end result and we’ll see what happens, good or bad, I know how it feels at the end of the season.

Finally, it’s been a rollercoaster ride, it’s almost been something out of a movie script the last nine or ten months of your life, has that changed you in any way?
No, it’s been a pretty crazy few months yeah for sure you know, er from where we were in the winter not having a team and now, leading the championship in both constructors and drivers, it has been a rollercoaster and it has been erm, a Hollywood movie and it has been spectacular and it’s been a lot of fun for everyone involved. Erm, I’ve always said that I wouldn’t just want to go through life and do the same thing every day erm, I’m definitely not doing that this season. I’d rather have lots of negatives, lots of positives, er, an emotional rollercoaster which is what we’ve had, and that’s what drives me forward, that’s what keeps me excited and interested in Formula 1.