• German Grand Prix

Button enjoys return to competitiveness

Jenson Button finished on the podium for the first time in seven races © Sutton Images

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• German Grand Prix

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• McLaren

Jenson Button said he "really enjoyed" the German Grand Prix as he returned to the podium for the first time since China.

Having won the opening race of the season and been second in China, Button was set for a championship challenge as the McLaren appeared to be the car to beat. Since then he had only scored seven points, however, until his second place at Hockenheim and he said he was pleased to fight at the front again and encouraged by McLaren's pace.

"It was a fun race out there, I really enjoyed it," Button said. "Most importantly we're there or thereabouts in terms of speed. It was very difficult to overtake Fernando [Alonso], and to overtake Sebastian [Vettel] but all in all it was a really good race. I really enjoyed it out there; a couple of good moves on Michael [Schumacher] and Nico [Hulkenberg]. I must just say there's been some negative talk about our pit stops in the past but the boys today did an unbelievable job. 2.4 seconds I think our pit stop was, which is just a blink of an eye so congratulations to those guys, and good to get back on the podium."

When asked about the overtaking incident that saw Vettel pass him off the track for second place on the penultimate lap - manoeuvre that earned Vettel a 20 second penalty post-race - Button would not be drawn on the move.

"I don't think there's anything I need to say, you can see the footage and see what you think yourself. That's the only bit of the race really I don't want to talk about, the rest of it was great. I really enjoyed it. Some really good fights out there and some great strategy. It's so nice to be back in the mix at the front, fighting with those two guys and that's exactly where we should be; hopefully we'll be the same in Hungary."

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