Defending world champion Jenson Button said he would rather quit Formula One than be asked to obey team orders.
The 30-year-old Englishman said he had never been asked to give way and support another driver in his career.
“But, if team orders come in then I will consider my future. I wouldn’t stop straight away, but I think it will definitely shorten my career in F1,” he said before yesterday’s Grand Prix in Monza.
Button’s outspoken opposition to the prospect of team orders came shortly after Frank Williams, owner of the Williams team, had said he supported the return of team orders in the wake of the recent controversy following Ferrari’s alleged manipulation of the German Grand Prix.
Speaking late on Friday, after it had been made clear that Ferrari were not facing any further sanctions for asking Felipe Massa to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso to win in Germany, Williams said he had written a letter in support of Ferrari – and team orders – to the sport’s governing body, the FIA.
The revelations of such diverging views on this hot topic endorse the feeling that the debate over team orders is likely to cause more trouble before it is settled.
The sport’s ‘think tank’, the Sporting Working Group, has been asked by the FIA to reconsider the ban on team orders, introduced in the wake of the row following Ferrari’s decision to ask Rubens Barrichello to hand victory to Michael Schumacher at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.
Button believes a return to any form of team orders would not be acceptable.
He said: “If only one driver (in a team) was in with a chance of the championship then I’d still rather not have team orders, but I would understand if the team came and said ‘you can’t win the world championship, so don’t make it as difficult as you probably would otherwise.
“But while you are still fighting for the world championship it is very strange to me that a driver is told to move over. I don’t understand that at all and I don’t understand anyone in the sport who would want to race in those circumstances.
“You are not racing to win are you? What is the point of finishing second?”