Button: Super GT team mate Yamamoto should be in F1

Jenson Button believes his talented Honda Super GT team mate Naoki Yamamoto deserves wider recognition and a chance at F1.

Button and Yamamoto conquered the title this season in the fiercely competitive Japanese Super GT championship onboard their Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT500.

But Yamamoto also prevailed this year in the equally disputed Super Formula series, with both achievements now allowing the 30-year-old driver to qualify for a Super Licence.

"I personally feel this guy should be in F1," Button said. "Whether he wants to or not, that’s my opinion.

"Seeing what he’s achieved in Super Formula, which I think has been a very good proving ground for Formula, if you look at [Gasly and also Stoffel [Vandoorne] and many other drivers. But also his diversity in his driving.

"So [he’s] champion in Super Formula, champion in Super GT. The wealth of experience from different types of racing all of this helps when you find yourself under pressure at the top."

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After his double success in 2018, Honda is mulling giving Yamamoto a run in F1 free practice next season, a potential opportunity that - should it come to pass - the driver should embrace according to Button.

"The early advice is if you get the opportunity to have a go in a Formula 1 car, you have to take it," said the 2009 F1 world champion.

"Even if you don’t think you are going to get a race seat or [you are] happy with the way you are racing, you should always give it a go because this opportunity doesn’t come very often for many people.

"Especially now it’s getting more and more difficult. If you get the opportunity to drive those beasts, you have to do it. It’s something worth trying."

However, Yamamoto sees a few hurdles barring an entry into F1 although he would take a shot given an opportunity.

"Even if I get the opportunity to drive, there are things like age," Yamamoto conceded.

"It was my original idea that I thought that I should not drive [even if there was a chance], that I should not raise my hand.

"I talked with Honda, I talked with my family and I consulted senior drivers [within Honda]. I could not come to a conclusion alone, so I asked various people [about it] and I reconfirmed my feelings.

"As a result, I think now that I do not want to let go of this opportunity."

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