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F1: Jenson Button goes tintop Down Under


McLaren’s Jenson Button has been working up to the Australian Grand Prix, scene of his first win of the 2009 season, by sampling a little red-hot tintop action courtesy of the country’s brutal V8 Supercar series.

The MP4-23 and V8 before Jamie Whincup and Jenson got their h... on Twitpic

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Through the good offices of McLaren sponsor Vodafone, which also backs reigning Australian V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, Jense got to have a go in a Holden Commodore – presumably marking him out as a Holden lad for life, forever attracting the opprobrium of the Ford faithful in a series that attracts some of the world’s most passionate and tribal motorsport fans.

This also meant, of course, that Whincup was let loose in a McLaren F1 car, although true to the team’s usual policy on these occasions, it was not the current one but the two-year-old MP4-23 with which Lewis Hamilton won his world title.

Speaking about Whincup’s Albert Park debut, Button said: “[It] is a great place to experience a Formula 1 car. It’s not a big open track, it’s a street circuit and it’s very bumpy. It’s going to be a hell of an experience.

Jenson looks on as Jamie straps into the MP4-23 on Twitpic

“Jamie did a great job. He’s a racing driver, so he knows how to control a car. It was pretty dusty out there, so probably not the best time to be jumping behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the first time. But I could tell he had a lot of fun.”

And, after taking his turn in the championship-leading Commodore, he was as excited as a small boy and showing none of the world-weariness that might very well come from a 10-year top-flight motorsport career and a hard-fought world championship.

He said: “That was great! It was difficult to get used to: I was surprised by how much grip it had. I was carrying a lot of speed, but turned into a right-hander, got a lot of under-steer and ran off the Tarmac onto the painted run-off.

“But it was all good. In a Formula 1 car I’d have been closing my eyes at that point!”

Jenson and Jamie meeting for the first time.  on Twitpic

And Whincup was little better, saying: “Jumping into a Formula 1 car is almost like going into space, or flying a fighter jet. It’s right up there with the best thing I could ever do.

“The car just does everything you’d want it to. The strain on my neck was amazing. The g-forces you feel are so much greater than I’d feel aboard my own race car. The F1 car is just a rocket ship. It’s another league.”

Now we have to hope that, following a lacklustre season-opener in Bahrain, we can feel equally excited when the full F1 lineup takes to the Albert Park track this weekend…

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