Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Mixed grid 'better for the whole sport' - Button

Jenson Button says Mercedes' struggles which saw it unable to fight for pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix are "better for the whole sport".

Mercedes came in to the Singapore weekend having dominated qualifying since the start of 2014, only failing to be on pole position on one occasion in that period. However, Sebastian Vettel took pole by over half a second on Saturday and was 1.5s clear of Lewis Hamilton in the lead Mercedes.

Button points to his own struggles at one race with Brawn in 2009 as an example of how a track and tyre combination can hurt a team, but he says the end result is just what F1 needed.

"I remember when I won the world championship, we were very strong for quite a few races and we got to Silverstone and we were nowhere, very similar actually to what [Mercedes] have," Button said. "That was circuit dependant and obviously continued through the year but it was a lower temperature thing that caused our issues.

"Maybe it’s a one-off but who knows? Maybe it is going to continue, but there’s no reason why it should continue if you actually look at it. Take this race out, you would never expect them to lose 1.3s from one race to the next. You wouldn’t expect that after Monza and I think when we get to Suzuka you will see them strong again but it’s whether they have the advantage that they’ve enjoyed for 32 races straight.

"Hopefully they’re not going to have the advantage going forward, hopefully there is going to be more of a fight. I think it’s better for the whole sport, I think it’s the shot in the arm the sport needs right now. It’s great to see a mixed up grid at the front. I think it’s good for everyone including Mercedes.”

REPORT: Vettel storms to Singapore pole as Mercedes dominance ends

AS IT HAPPENED: Singapore Grand Prix qualifying

Click here for some of the most memorable crashes at Singapore

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.