Jenson Button has called Mercedes downfall “exactly what the sport needs” after the Brackley based team could only manage fifth and sixth in qualifying.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel secured a dominant pole position on Saturday ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, with both their team-mates lining up behind in third and fourth.
The result is Mercedes’ worst since the beginning of the new turbo era, but it has injected some excitement into what has been a season dominated by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
“It’s great, this is exactly what the sport needs,” said the McLaren driver. “This weekend is very important for Formula 1. You can’t take it away from Mercedes, they’ve done an amazing job, and nobody else has done a good enough job this year.
“This race, to see them 1.3s off, is good for the sport, and actually it’s probably good for Mercedes as well because they see competition and it adds a bit of spice to it.”
However the Briton doesn’t expect their downfall to last too long: “This is great, and hopefully it will continue, but I’m a little bit unsure – when we get to Suzuka it’ll go back to Mercedes being a second quicker than everyone,” he added.
“We’ll enjoy it while it lasts and I’ll be watching it on the screens while I’m going round in the middle of the pack.”
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