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• Jenson Button

What do you think of the new car and what are your personal goals for this year?

There are no big issues with the car. (After the initial shakedown run) I didn't come in and go 'Wow, it's really unpredictable' - which I did last year. I think this car feels like a proper racing car, we just need to work on it - it's not quick enough yet. But there'll be a lot of changes before the first race. We understand the car, it's been in the wind tunnel and we understand where we need to improve. Which is great, because we didn't have that last year: we put it in the wind tunnel and we thought we knew where to improve it. But every time we did, it didn't go any quicker. We understand it, which is important.

Personal goals...points - unless you're winning - make no difference at all. For me, the important thing is to see an improvement throughout the season. I mean, not just a couple of tenths, we need to make a big improvement throughout the year - our last race should be our best. If we get to the last race and we've finished fourth or fifth, then that's where we are. We might get to the last race and finish on the podium, we might get to the last race and win - you never know. We really don't know but I think we need to hope that we're competitive and we're going to improve race by race - not just against ourselves but against our competitors.

We have new grands prix this year in Singapore and Valencia. What are your thoughts on those?

I saw a simulation of the circuit in Valencia, which looks pretty fun. It's difficult to know unless you see it in real life, but the good thing is that they've incorporated some really good run-off areas on a street circuit. And that's good to see because it's a quick street circuit - it's a lot quicker than Monaco.

Singapore - I don't really know the circuit so well but I've heard some exciting things about driving underneath a grandstand which could be quite fun - especially for the fans! Bringing street circuits in is a new thing; we have been working towards working on these new circuits. They're very open-planned, good for racing and overtaking. In a way it's nice to have something different - it's nice to have a street circuit. But don't expect as much overtaking as you'd find on, for example, Budapest or Bahrain.

And the fact that Singapore is going to be a night race?

It's going to be quite strange. I've heard that it's going to be so lit it'll almost be daylight. The worry is if the lights go down and it's wet, for example. That could be quite scary but I'm sure they wouldn't be putting it on if they didn't know they could do it properly. It should be exciting and adds a bit to the sport for sure - I think it'll be exciting to see the flames out the exhaust and the brakes orange or red-hot. I think it'll be great to see and it's very unusual for us - it's a completely new thing for most drivers to be in the dark, with no lights on the car.

Max Mosley has said that Lewis Hamilton might be the next Michael Schumacher - a multiple world champion. Any thoughts on Lewis?

It's someone's comment and nobody knows what's going to happen. Lewis got very close to winning the world championship last year, he missed it by one point - which I'm sure he's kicking himself about. To get so close in your first season and then not win it must be devastating. But it was his first year in F1 and he's got a lot of years in front of him and he's with a good team. It's just whether they can be quick enough to challenge the Ferrari this year. We'll have to wait and see. For sure, there are a lot of very talented drivers in F1 and Lewis is one of them. But some of it is also where you're placed and everything needs to be 100% within the team to be world champion. And I think that, at Ferrari, the atmosphere within the team maybe was better last year. They seemed to have everything when it came to the last few races, they were very competitive. And maybe it wasn't so at McLaren - I don't know. It's great to have a fast car, but you need everything else as well.

Do you have a message for your fans?

I've got to say 'Thanks' for sticking by because 2007 was a very tough season. We're hoping for a lot more this year, but this year won't be the year we set the world alight - it won't be the year that we challenge for the world championship. It's more of a long-term thing, the team have made a lot of changes over the winter and you can't just go from being 1.7-1.8 seconds slower than the McLarens and Ferraris at the end of the year and start winning races this year. So we're building and we're improving and we've really got the personnel to move forward. I feel this team is the most complete team in F1 now and I'm hoping for great things in the future. So stick by!

After a really bad year last year, are you more motivated for this year? Maybe last year helped you to be more motivated?

Not by having a rubbish season. It was more by having a rubbish season and then the team realising that something has to change and there you go: Ross Brawn and a lot of other very good technical people. So that gives me a big buzz, for sure. But having a bad season does not give you the buzz for the next season, it's more the changes that it makes you make - and we have made some massive changes. We're not going to go to the first race and be really quick, it doesn't really happen like that. It does take time for everything to fit together and to move forward.

The buzz from this team is so big now after Ross's signing and the other talented people who have come to the team, they really realise how serious Honda are and how much they want this. It's a great atmosphere and that's something that we have and maybe something other teams don't have. And when we get to the front and we have a race-challenging car then we'll have everything in the background we need to challenge for the championship.

Click here for part one of the Jenson Button Q&A