The FIA has vowed to judge the ways in which excessive temperature and humidity meant that drivers needed to take themselves to the bodily restrict in Qatar.
The extreme warmth and flat-out nature of the tyre stint-limited race at Losail left drivers going through one of many greatest challenges of their careers, which some described as “hell” and “torture”.
Logan Sargeant needed to retire with heatstroke, Esteban Ocon was sick in his helmet and Lance Stroll mentioned he handed out a number of instances.
The FIA said: “Whereas being elite athletes, they shouldn’t be anticipated to compete underneath situations that might jeopardise their well being or security.”
Button wasn’t in Qatar in particular person however believes that the high-G nature of the monitor additionally performed a component within the issues that drivers confronted.
“I didn’t really feel how scorching it was, however one of many greater issues with Qatar is that these guys are at excessive G throughout the monitor,” he mentioned. “The warmth… I imply, we’ve had plenty of scorching races previously.
“However I feel the most important difficulty is for them that their our bodies had been at such excessive lateral G, for thus lengthy, which you could’t breathe. They’re not in a position to get the oxygen into the blood, in order that’s the most important difficulty.”
Jenson Button
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Talking to reporters on the Petit Le Mans sportscar occasion, when requested what he thought might be finished from the automotive standpoint to control the temperature of drivers within the cockpit, Button replied: “You may’t do something, aside from air-con, and also you’ve by no means heard of that in an open-cockpit automotive.
“IndyCar has a closed kinda cockpit, and it’s clearly scorching in these automobiles, and I do know they don’t have energy steering, so I do know it hurts them too. However then they don’t pull them similar G forces as an F1 automotive pulls [on a road course].
“After I raced NASCAR in Austin, I virtually stopped within the race. I mentioned to the staff, ‘I can’t do that anymore’ – I used to be simply so scorching. So totally different automobiles have totally different points with warmth.
“Till drivers communicate up, they gained’t change it.
“I bear in mind racing F1 in Malaysia, when my water bottle broke, I had large points within the race. You begin shivering and then you definitely lose your imaginative and prescient.
“Then it will get harmful, so I’ve felt how dangerous it may be.”