Button concerned about tyre problems

Jenson Button is concerned about the number of tyre problems suffered by Michelin shod cars at last weekend's Belgium Grand Prix and wants the situation resolved before the next race at Monza. The BAR driver was one of four victims of tyre failure at the Spa circuit.

Jenson Button.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

Button lost his right rear tyre in the race at around 200 mph and hit the Minardi of Zsolt Baumgartner, which probably prevented the BAR crashing into a wall at high speed. Neither driver was harmed.

Toyota third driver Ryan Briscoe suffered a failure during the Friday practices and crashed out, while McLaren's David Coulthard and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya also had right rear deflations on Sunday.

"It's very important we sort it out," said Button, according to Motorsport News. "When you have four people suffering the same failures at almost 200mph, it can be very serious."

The Englishman is concerned about testing at Monza this week, as well as the Italian GP at the circuit. "It needs to be sorted out before we even test there, never mind race," he said.

"You can't go racing like this -- being unsure whether the tyre's going to last or not. You don't crash at 200mph unless you have a failure. It's pretty scary when the car just snaps away from you."

Michelin is confident that it was not unprovoked compound failure and believes the kerbs at Spa were to blame. Pascal Vasselon said the deflated tyres had been investigated and it was deduced that the drivers who suffered the failures had hit the sharp inside kerb at the modified Bus Stop chicane prior to their incidents.