» Button, WTCC stars thrill Hungarian fans

While his Formula 1 colleagues were braving the rain in Mugello, Jenson Button ventured to Hungary’s capital, Budapest, to entertain over 500,000 fans in a street demonstration in his McLaren at a Vodafone-sponsored event.

The crowd-thriller was held in conjunction with this weekend’s build-up to the World Touring Car Championship round at the Hungaroring, which featured appearances by Tom Boardman, Pasquale di Sabatino and local championship drivers Norbert Michelisz and Gábor Wéber.

The quintet performed a series of demonstration runs on a makeshift four-kilometre circuit that snaked its way around the city’s historic buildings from the central Erzsébet tér (Elizabeth square) and along Bajcsy-Zsilinszky and Alkotmány utca.

“It was a great pleasure for me to take part in such a huge festival featuring exciting programmes in downtown Budapest,” said two-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner Button.

“I really enjoyed the running over the afternoon. It was special not only because it was hosted in a location different to the usual Formula 1 circuits and I was surrounded by beautiful buildings.”

Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton will be missing in action from this year’s only in-season ‘open’ test session at Mugello, with McLaren reserve drivers Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey performing driving duties at the Italian circuit.