Jenson Button has come over all self-critical, in a roundabout way, saying that he did not work hard enough in the early stages of his Formula One career, but says that now he "can't imagine anyone works harder" than himself.
Button came into Formula One back in 2000, as a surprise choice for the second Williams seat, but switched to the uncompetitive Benetton squad in 2001 when Williams needed to make room for long-time protégé Juan Pablo Montoya.
The Brit went on to struggle badly at the Benetton squad, being outperformed by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella in what was a dreadful car, scoring just two points all season and ending up 17th in the drivers standings.
He ended up being dumped by the team at the end of 2002 for Fernando Alonso, and was heavily criticised by his then-team boss Flavio Briatore, who said that: "You have to have patience for this job and, instead of spending more time with his engineers at the circuit, he wanted to rush away to get his picture into a lifestyle magazine."
Button was particularly lambasted for his conduct at the 2001 Monaco GP, when he moored his £2 million yacht, called somewhat fecklessly 'Little Missy', in the harbour of the principality, and spent his weekend hosting a lavish series of parties onboard. It was enough for even Jacque Villeneuve to dismiss him as a "boy-band member".
And Button has admitted to the UK Daily Mirror newspaper that his lack of commitment to the sport back then had threatened to end his nascent career before it had even started.
"Everyone has tough times in their career and I've had my fair share," Button explained, "For me it was 2001 and a lot of it was my own fault and the fault of the people I had around me."
"I thought I could just drive around those problems and didn't have to work on them. Now I know you need to spend a lot of time with your engineers. You need to change the car to make it your own, you need to spend time on your fitness."
He added that: "When I came into F1 there were so many areas I didn't know about. I was just very excited about racing against my heroes, the drivers I'd looked up to in the past.
"I didn't come in with my eyes wide open. I had blinkers on. You learn very quickly in this sport. It's not really the place to learn but I did it. I had to. That's when I realised there was more to it than just driving the car."
He insisted that he has completely changed his outlook to the sport now, adding that in hindsight, his relatively easy first season in a solid Williams-BMW had perhaps clouded his judgment.
"I really enjoyed the first season but the problem was that it was a good car and I didn't have to work on the set-up with the engineers," Button shrugged, "It was my mistake. You learn from it, I am the complete opposite now. I do everything I need to - plus a bit more I would say.
"I can't imagine anyone works harder than me but fair play to them if they do."
He added that he felt that Ross Brawn respected his reasons for leaving Brawn GP for McLaren over the winter, and added that the old Brawn GP team, now renamed Mercedes GP, no longer existed.
"Brawn GP doesn't exist any more," he chortled, "I think Ross respects that decision now, I really do. He was surprised and he thought it would be a tough challenge. He's right. It is. But life is about challenges."
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