Perdita
31-07-2010, 17:47
JENSON BUTTON has vowed to quit Formula One if team orders are brought back.
The world champion insists he would walk away from his £8million deal over the issue that has split the sport.
F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone reckons the ban on team orders should be scrapped in the wake of Ferrari telling Felipe Massa to move over for Fernando Alonso in Germany last Sunday.
But McLaren ace Button, 30, who battles intensely with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in every grand prix, blasted: "I'd not be interested in racing in F1 if, from the first race, you knew there was the possibility of being a No 1 or No 2 driver. What's the point?
"One of the biggest buzzes in F1 is fighting your team-mate and, for me, fighting a world champion is such a buzz.
"If I suddenly realised he didn't have the same equipment as me, or I was being favoured, I wouldn't be happy. I would think we'd all been cheated.
"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.
"F1 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."
Ferrari were hit with a £65,000 fine after forcing Massa to move over via a coded message and gift Alonso the victory that fired him back into the title fight.
But the Hockenheim race stewards also slapped a disrepute charge on the sport's most famous team, which will be heard by the World Motor Sport Council in the next few weeks.
The WMSC has the power to kick Ferrari out of F1 or strip them of their German GP one-two, as the sport debates whether the rule should be scrapped.
Team orders were banned in 2002, after Ferrari told Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher in Austria.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is convinced F1 is a far healthier sport with team orders banned by the FIA.
Horner's stance is hardly surprising, as he made it clear following the shunt in Turkey two months ago between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber that his drivers are allowed to race.
It cost his team a near certain one-two finish that day and may yet prove crucial when it comes to the title reckoning at the end of the season.
A call on the radio, telling Vettel not to overtake or Webber to let the German by, could have prevented the incident and fall-out that followed.
Yet Horner has no wish to see a return to the days where a team could blatantly favour one driver over another. He said: "The rule was brought in for a reason. To avoid the situation that happened in 2002 regarding Ferrari's call to Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher by.
"Moving forward, it is perhaps an area that needs to be looked at.
"But, for me, F1 has been quite healthy in the last couple of years. Drivers have raced each other and that should be encouraged rather than negated."
Horner points out that team orders have existed almost since the World Championship began in 1950.
Yet there is now a rule prohibiting that - one his team will continue to abide by.
He added: "Rightly or wrongly, we've allowed our guys to race and that is something they have done throughout this year.
"In Turkey we paid the ultimate price for that. One retired and the other achieved a lesser result than he should have done.
"If the rules were different, then perhaps we would have addressed that race differently. But the Red Bull Racing philosophy is to allow both drivers to race."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/motorsport/3075797/Button-issues-quit-threat.html#ixzz0vHN5pReM
The world champion insists he would walk away from his £8million deal over the issue that has split the sport.
F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone reckons the ban on team orders should be scrapped in the wake of Ferrari telling Felipe Massa to move over for Fernando Alonso in Germany last Sunday.
But McLaren ace Button, 30, who battles intensely with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in every grand prix, blasted: "I'd not be interested in racing in F1 if, from the first race, you knew there was the possibility of being a No 1 or No 2 driver. What's the point?
"One of the biggest buzzes in F1 is fighting your team-mate and, for me, fighting a world champion is such a buzz.
"If I suddenly realised he didn't have the same equipment as me, or I was being favoured, I wouldn't be happy. I would think we'd all been cheated.
"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.
"F1 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."
Ferrari were hit with a £65,000 fine after forcing Massa to move over via a coded message and gift Alonso the victory that fired him back into the title fight.
But the Hockenheim race stewards also slapped a disrepute charge on the sport's most famous team, which will be heard by the World Motor Sport Council in the next few weeks.
The WMSC has the power to kick Ferrari out of F1 or strip them of their German GP one-two, as the sport debates whether the rule should be scrapped.
Team orders were banned in 2002, after Ferrari told Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher in Austria.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is convinced F1 is a far healthier sport with team orders banned by the FIA.
Horner's stance is hardly surprising, as he made it clear following the shunt in Turkey two months ago between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber that his drivers are allowed to race.
It cost his team a near certain one-two finish that day and may yet prove crucial when it comes to the title reckoning at the end of the season.
A call on the radio, telling Vettel not to overtake or Webber to let the German by, could have prevented the incident and fall-out that followed.
Yet Horner has no wish to see a return to the days where a team could blatantly favour one driver over another. He said: "The rule was brought in for a reason. To avoid the situation that happened in 2002 regarding Ferrari's call to Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher by.
"Moving forward, it is perhaps an area that needs to be looked at.
"But, for me, F1 has been quite healthy in the last couple of years. Drivers have raced each other and that should be encouraged rather than negated."
Horner points out that team orders have existed almost since the World Championship began in 1950.
Yet there is now a rule prohibiting that - one his team will continue to abide by.
He added: "Rightly or wrongly, we've allowed our guys to race and that is something they have done throughout this year.
"In Turkey we paid the ultimate price for that. One retired and the other achieved a lesser result than he should have done.
"If the rules were different, then perhaps we would have addressed that race differently. But the Red Bull Racing philosophy is to allow both drivers to race."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/motorsport/3075797/Button-issues-quit-threat.html#ixzz0vHN5pReM