Jenson Button has revealed that if Formula One were to scrap regulation 39.1, he’d walk away from the sport.
That regulation has been the subject of much media hype over the last week, it is indeed the regulation which prohibits team-orders within F1.
The Brit told the Press Association Sport that if he found himself in a situation which meant he could be a number two driver from race one, then he wouldn’t want to compete any longer.
“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,” he said. “What’s the point?
“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.”
Button currently drives for McLaren and admitted that going head-to-head with World Champion, Lewis Hamilton (2008), in the same machinery gives him a real ‘buzz’.
“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, then I wouldn’t be happy about that because I would think we’d all been cheated.”
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