John Surtees: Jenson should have been demoted

By Phil Huff (18/01/2005)
January 18 2005

Ex-Honda racer John Surtees thinks that Lucky Strike BAR Honda should have demoted Jenson Button to the test driver role, following his attempted defection to Williams.

Speaking to F1 Racing magazine, world champion Surtees says "Frankly, I don't understand why Honda didn't relegate him to the test team and stick Davidson in. Knowing the Japanese, they would have had to swallow very, very hard over that because – and it's a great shame – the momentum of his career was gathering such nice pace."

With both BAR and Honda publicly stating that they want to keep Jenson, Surtees' comments that the youngster has "got to build bridges if he's to stay at Honda, and he’s got to build them in such a way that they reach all the way back to Japan."

While Jenson seems adamant that he can take the world title from Michael Schumacher, commenting recently that he expects to win in Australia, John Surtees is not so sure, saying "I'm not certain whether he has quite the fire in the belly – we'll have to wait and see. As for the world championship... I don't necessarily expect that it will naturally follow because there are too many imponderables.

"Honda will arrive there but whether they arrive there with Jenson I don't know."