Singapore challenge too much for drivers - Button

Singapore is too tough a challenge for Formula One drivers, 2009 world champion Jenson Button said in the city-state this week.

Podium: third place Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes

Photo by: xpb.cc

The McLaren driver has called on the length of the floodlit street race to be shortened due to the heat and high humidity, the bumpy surface and the fact it runs close to the sport's two-hour limit.

"We find it very tough and after the race you are shattered, in pieces," Button, 31, is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper.

"It's one of the races we actually think is a little too long, that they need to maybe shorten."

And The Sun newspaper quotes him adding: "At the end of the race all the drivers sit in their cars for a few moments before getting out. If you get out too quickly, you feel light-headed and dizzy.

"It (the race) is almost too tough -- you're totally drained by the end. If you look at pictures on the podium, you can tell the drivers are not completely with it, due to the heat and dehydration," said Button.

But not all of the Briton's rivals agree with him: "The heat and humidity it pretty hardcore," acknowledged Team Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen, "but I like it."

Brazil's Globo quotes the Finn adding: "It is a big challenge and that is what F1 is about."