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Jenson Button would quit over team orders
ESPNF1 Staff
July 31, 2010
Jenson Button would not be interested in being a number two driver © Getty Images
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Jenson Button has threatened to quit Formula One if team orders are reintroduced into the sport.
The world champion's amazing revelations come in the wake of last weekend's controversial finish to the German Grand Prix, when Felipe Massa was forced to hand victory to team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Although team orders reflecting the outcome of a race were banned following the rigged 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, opinions have been divided as to whether such team orders should now return.
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said that team principals should be allowed to make the decisions but Red Bull boss Christian Horner is of the contrary view that drivers in the same team should be allowed to race fairly against one another, a view shared by Button.
"I wouldn't be interested in racing in F1 if, from the first race, you know there was the possibility of being a number one or number two driver. What's the point?" Button told Press Association Sport.
"You're here to win, to be the best, and you should have equal opportunity to the next guy that's driving the same car. He should also get every opportunity otherwise it's not a drivers' sport any more, it would be a complete and utter team sport.
"Formula One is a team sport, but when you cross the finishing line you are the person who wins the drivers' championship. We have the constructors' and we have the drivers', and that's the way Formula One is.
"So for me, if it wasn't down to the individual, I wouldn't be interested in racing any more. One of the biggest buzzes in F1 is fighting your team-mate, and for me, fighting a world champion is such a buzz."
The issue of team favouritism reared its head during the British Grand Prix weekend, when Red Bull gave Sebastian Vettel the new spec wing from Mark Webber's car after for qualifying after he damaged it during practice. It is not something that Button would be prepared to put up with.
"If I suddenly realised he didn't have the same equipment as me, or I was being favoured, then I wouldn't be happy about that because I would think we'd all been cheated," added Button. "Sometimes it can hurt you having two drivers who are fighting for a championship."
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