“As for Marco, he showed that he was brave and fast and talented but never
really got the opportunity to show it in racing. So it’s a tragedy really.
If the other guy was three inches to the left it would have been fine.
While Button was in reflective mood, he, like others, was keen to stress that
Formula One is not IndyCar, it is not MotoGP. And that, while the search for
safety can never be guaranteed, he would not let the deaths of Wheldon or
Simoncelli cloud his outlook regarding his own formula. He would not be
holding back.
“I wasn’t thinking about the dangers in
Formula One [when they died],” he said. “I don’t think you
can compare racing in IndyCars
or MotoGP with racing in Formula One.
“The safety levels that we have and what the FIA has implicated are fantastic.
We still complain. Every circuit we go to we point out areas that we think
could be a massive hazard and should be improved. But Formula One is on
another level in terms of safety.”
One area in which IndyCar and Formula One do overlap concerns their open
cockpits, which leave the drivers’ heads exposed. Wheldon’s death —
officially due to head injuries sustained in a 15-car pile-up — has
reignited the debate over canopies, something the FIA, the world governing
body, has been looking into. Button is in two minds.
“There are always positives and negatives when it comes to canopies,” he said.
“Put a canopy in a car and you’re not exposed to flying springs and things
like that, but then it’s not an open-cockpit racing car anymore, which
Formula One has been since day one, so you’re changing the formula.
“And to get the canopy as strong as you need it needs to be massive as well;
fighter plane canopies, and they still bend, they still flex. So it can hit
the helmet anyway.
“There’s a lot of work to be done there, years, before you could think of
putting it on a Formula One car. Also, it’s ugly, which is not what you want
from an Formula One car.
“That said, we do that about a lot of things. We hated the HANS [Head and Neck
Support] device when they were introduced. But it is a much safer way to go
racing. In terms of safety I think every driver would like our heads to be
not so exposed to injury. We need to talk to the FIA and discuss it.”
Earlier in the day, Button had taken a tuk-tuk around the Buddh International
Circuit near Delhi and declared himself impressed with the track even if the
paddock still has more than a few rough edges; doors which open the wrong
way, regular power cuts, paddock homes which have clearly been used as a
public convenience by the local labourers. It was opened only on Oct 18.
“If the track was completely flat you’d still like it,” Button reported. “But
they’ve stuck a few hills in and it looks great, it really does. This
circuit is a bit more like Suzuka and Spa than Korea or Singapore.
‘‘We think that we should be quick enough to challenge for the win,
definitely.”