Button battles through tonsillitis as F1 rivals holiday

Jenson Button struggled through the London Triathlon on Sunday with tonsillitis.

But the reigning world champion still finished third in his class, despite admitting to having “suffered quite a bit” whilst under the effect of antibiotics.

His time of 2hr14mins was about 25 minutes behind the ultimate winner, and seven minutes slower than his 2009 time.

“I wasn’t feeling very well at the start of the week, which is why I have come in a bit slower than last time round,” said the 30-year-old.

The Olympic-length event consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.

F1 is currently in the midst of its August break, including two-week factory shutdowns, so most of Button’s rivals are on holiday.

Mark Webber is on the Cote d’Azur, Robert Kubica is planning to travel between the south of France and Tuscany, Jarno Trulli is in Miami and Vitantonio Liuzzi on the Greek holiday island Mykonos.

“No sun here today, oh well,” Webber wrote on Twitter.

Button plans to spend this week at his villa in Guernsey.

Life is tougher for the Toro Rosso duo, who are training for 10 days in Austria, but their Red Bull Racing teammates will soon follow.

Fernando Alonso is also headed for a holiday, having spent several days at Maranello prior to helicoptering to the Italian Dolomites for a PR event.

“At least once a day, maybe just for ten minutes, I will inevitably think about the next race in Belgium,” said the Spaniard.

F1’s four Brazilian drivers have all returned home for August, while Karun Chandhok is in India and Sakon Yamamoto in Japan.

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