Jenson Button says he enjoyed his first practice sessions as world champion around the Abu Dhabi circuit and thinks Brawn is looking in good shape for a competitive end to its amazing season.
The Briton admitted on Thursday that he was looking forward to competing in the season finale without the pressure of the title battle hanging over him, the 29-year-old having clinched the crown two weeks ago at Interlagos.
The absence of that strain seemed to show in his performance on the opening day at the brand new Yas Marina venue as Button was narrowly pipped to the fastest time in first practice by Lewis Hamilton before again running the dominant McLarens close in the evening session.
Button admits he took the opportunity to have some fun during the sessions and was pleased to report that the BGP 001 seems to be in the thick of the front-running action alongside McLaren and season-long rival Red Bull.
“I’ve enjoyed today,” he told reporters.
“I had a few off-circuit moments, but it doesn’t matter anymore and I don’t have to worry so much, I can just enjoy myself.
“It’s been a good day and we have done a few good bits of set-up work and tyre comparisons.
“[I’m] Looking forward to tomorrow – there are a few set-up changes we need to make to be competitive.
“If you look at the McLarens and Red Bulls they look strong. The Williams looks alright as well.
“So we will see where we stand but I’m happy with the way the car is working.”
The world champion admits he hadn’t had too high hopes for the brand new anti-clockwise circuit before Friday’s running, so was delighted the 3.45-mile track was more challenging than he had expected.
[I expected it to be] Very slow, I didn’t know how interesting it would be,” Button said.
“But having driven it, it is a fun circuit to drive and it is quite easy to make a mistake round here because there is a lot of camber changes.
“There is the fast two-three [corner] which is fun and then the rest of the stuff is sort of second and third gear.”
In preparation for conditions drivers will face in qualifying and the race, Friday’s second practice session started at 5pm local time with the sun quickly setting meaning the 90-minutes of running finished under floodlights in the dark.
Button admits it was a strange experience to start the session in the light and finish in the dark, the Briton saying the change in lighting conditions forced him to change his visor.
“It is quite weird during the session,” he said.
“When you come in after one run it’s daylight and when you go out again it’s dark, it gets dark very quickly here.
“It’s quite tough and a visor change is necessary. Also with the tyres, trying to understand the tyres when the circuit temperature changes so much.
“The prime tyre when we started the session the circuit was at 45 [degrees] and ended it about 33 [degrees].
“So there is a bit of work needed, it’s unusual in the session.”
And although drivers are now used to driving under floodlights having raced in night-time conditions in Singapore over the past two seasons, Button reckons its more difficult in Abu Dhabi as the track contains more undulations and the lighting system in use is different.
“They are very different,” he said when asked to compare the two experiences.
“In Singapore it’s like a strip of lighting all the way around the circuit. Here you have big floodlights.
“I tried a clear visor at the end of the session and I found it very difficult to see because some of the lights are very bright and shining in your face.
“It’s quite a hilly circuit so sometimes you are heading up, sometimes you are heading down, the hill and you have got the lights in your face.
“But it’s just about choosing the right visor. As I said, I think they have done a great job with this circuit and we have to say these facilities are the best I’ve ever seen.”
Meanwhile, while Brawn also wrapped up the constructors’ championship in Brazil, the team is still aiming to complete the perfect season by helping Rubens Barrichello finish as runner-up to Button in the drivers’ standings.
The Brazilian, who is currently two points behind Sebastian Vettel, was also happy with his BGP 001 through practice after finishing the two sessions in fourth and eighth places respectively.
“The car felt good here over the two sessions and we were able to make several improvements over the course of the day,” Barrichello said.
“I'm quite happy with the balance and looking forward to tomorrow."