13/03/2015
NEWS STORY
It's the story that won't go away. Despite the anticipation of a new season, the controversy surrounding Sauber and Manor's phoenix-like re-emergence from the flames, the circumstances surrounding Fernando Alonso's Barcelona test crash still dominates.
With the FIA holding its own investigation into what happened at the Barcelona track three weeks ago, Jenson Button has thrown his full support behind the Woking team, which, it has to be said, whatever the facts of the matter, has handled things somewhat badly.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend's season opener, the veteran was keen to point out that though he is keen to remain in F1 he would not take any unnecessary risks and is adamant that the Honda-powered MP4-30 is safe.
"I will not get into a car unless I am one-hundred per cent sure it is safe," he said. "I spent hours going through the data with the engineers and talking to them about the incident and he did not as far as I am aware get an electric shock and there was nothing wrong with the car whatsoever.
"I needed to know that before getting into the car at the next test so I made sure of it," he continued. "When you are driving a Formula One car at the limit, you need to be sure. I trust these guys and that is why I have the confidence to drive it this weekend. Everything is working correctly.
"The engineers have got every test under the sun to understand steering loads and everything involving the car," he added.
Minded of claims, even by team boss Ron Dennis, that the accident looked "strange", Button snapped: "Of course it looks strange, he hit a wall. It's not a normal racing line around turn three in Barcelona, so yeah it looks strange."
However, when asked if he thought it was a normal testing accident, the 2009 world champion, said: "I can't comment on that. It's unfair."