World Champion Jenson Button(TM) has also joined in the increasingly angry debate over the new F1 teams for 2010, playing down the "danger" element of the slower cars, but saying that they may well cause problems in qualifying.
The likes of Felipe Massa, David Coulthard and Mark Webber have all gone on rants about the legitimacy of the new teams in recent days, after Ferrari slammed their participation in the sport in a blog post last month.
With Virgin Racing and Lotus both off the pace and HRT yet to run their car at all, Coulthard has suggested that having such untested and slow cars on track was an "irresponsible" situation.
But Button was unconvinced by arguments that the slower cars will somehow make the sport more dangerous. The reigning champion was more concerned with the potential of the newbies interfering with frontrunning cars on their flying laps during practice sessions and qualifying itself.
"It's not so much a question of danger," the McLaren driver said in an interview with La Stampa, "But it will make it more difficult for us to work in practice.
"It could be we're starting a fast lap with low fuel and you come across a Lotus or a Virgin with full tanks running 12 seconds slower."
He added that: "Even in qualifying, with 24 cars on the track, it will be crucial to get it right.
"In the race it will be better, because the difference between first and last will be more like 3 or 4 seconds."
The expansion of the F1 grid will see 24 cars take part in Q1 this season, with seven cars knocked out in both the first and second sessions to leave the traditional top ten shootout in Q3.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
