Jenson Button says his Belgian Grand Prix pole position almost feels as good as a race win following a 60-race run without having qualified in the number one slot.
“It’s been so long since my last pole position that it almost feels like a win for me,” said Button.
“In fact, it’s my first pole since Monaco 2009 – which was a race that I won – and it demonstrates that I can qualify really well.
“So I want to offer my congratulations to the whole team: it’s my 50th grand prix for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this weekend, so it’s a great time to get a pole position for everyone at Woking, at Brixworth and of course here at Spa.”
The McLaren driver opted to run a new rear-wing which he believes helped to contribute to his dominant pace – whilst team-mate Lewis Hamilton didn’t, and ended up eighth fastest.
“I’m surprised that the new rear wing is working so well, but the engineers also did a great job with the balance,” he added. “And it’s even more encouraging that we had good consistency through all three qualifying sessions. Nonetheless, nobody has done any long runs yet, so we still need to wait and see how tomorrow pans out.
“Can I still win the drivers’ championship? Yes. We’ll take it one day at a time, but hopefully we can get some good points tomorrow.”
