Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button: Extended calendar worse for the team than drivers

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Jenson Button reckons that while an expanded 21-race calendar for Formula One in 2016 might not be a problem for the drivers, it will be a big strain for team personnel.

"For the drivers, it’s fine, we just travel around, it’s no problem," Button told Auto Express at the Esso Synergy Fuels launch in London on Wednesday night, shortly after being publicly confirmed as staying at McLaren for another season.

"For the teams it’s very difficult. For the mechanics it’s pretty difficult to hold down a relationship when you’re working in Formula One, but it’s going to be even more difficult next year.

"They’re going to be tired a lot of the time, so I really feel for those guys.

"Hopefully they’ll come to an understanding about where it’s too much for the guys – otherwise you’ll get too many people coming through the sport and people not staying long enough in a team."

At the same time, Button felt that the new calendar did have a definite upside: "Making the start of the season earlier is a good thing, as it means we can break up the schedule a little bit more."

One of the more controversial aspects of the new calendar for 2016 is that the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku is scheduled for June 19, the same weekend that the Le Mans 24 Hours race is to be held - won last year by a team that included Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg who will now not be able to defend his title.

"I like what Bernie’s done with that," Button laughed. "He’s just made it clear that Formula One drivers are not supposed to be driving anything else except Formula One cars – you can’t race at Le Mans now!"

Button admitted that Le Mans might be something he would like to try in the future, once he's finished his time in Formula One. "Every driver thinks Le Mans is exciting.

"It’s a massive team effort and a massive accomplishment to win a 24-hour race. It’s basically a 24-hour Grand Prix these days, it’s flat out the whole way.

"There are many things I want to do in the future – but not yet."

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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.