Grosjean predicts Button will be up to speed in Monaco

Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean expects Jenson Button to get quickly up to speed at Monaco next week.

The former world champion is returning for a one-off Grand Prix, subbing for Fernando Alonso who will competing in the Indy 500. Button has limited himself to simulator testing amid suggestions that he’s not all that enthusiastic about returning to the cockpit.

But Grosjean says Button is too talented a driver not to do well in what will almost certainly be his Formula 1 swan song.

“First thing he has to do is get used to the width of the car, especially in Monaco,” Grosjean pointed out.

“Jenson is a great champion. He’s been world champion and he knows what he’s doing. He’s going to be on it pretty quickly.”

Button won the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, the same year that Grosjean clinched victory in the GP2 feature race in the principality.

“If we can take advantage of the fact that he’s not got much experience in the car at the beginning, we’ll use that for our own performance,” said Grosjean. “But I’m sure he’s going to be good straight away.

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“Every city racetrack is complicated,” he added. “In Monaco, you can’t make any mistakes or you’re straight into the wall. It’s hard to find the right limit of the car.

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“You always have to drive underneath [the limit], unless you’re in qualifying on a very fast lap. It’s very tight there, and it goes very fast between the walls – a great challenge.

“It’s almost impossible to pass in Monaco, unless you take big risks,” he pointed out. “And in that case you may spend some hours with the stewards afterward.

“Qualifying is the key. You really want to be on the front row. Once the race starts, you want a good start and try to hang in there,” he said, adding that a poor Saturday almost certainly wrecked any chance of a strong result.

“Something really needs to happen for you to be able to come back if you’re racing at the back.”

 
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