Singapore: McLaren’s Jenson Button will take a five-place penalty on the Japanese Grand Prix starting grid this weekend due to an unscheduled gearbox change, his Formula One team said yesterday.
The Briton, who won at Suzuka last year, finished second in Singapore but McLaren discovered after the race that his car’s gearbox had the same problem that forced team-mate Lewis Hamilton to retire while leading.
Button is a long shot for the title, currently sixth overall and 75 points adrift of Ferrari’s championship leader Fernando Alonso with six races remaining.
Hamilton, the 2008 champion who has announced his departure for Mercedes at the end of the season, will also have a new gearbox but escapes any penalty due to his failure to finish in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher looked forward to one of his favourite race weekends yesterday despite knowing it could be the last Japanese Grand Prix of his Formula One career.
Mercedes announced last week that the seven-time world champion, now 43, will be replaced in 2013 by Hamilton.
The German also arrives at Suzuka with a 10-place penalty on the starting grid hanging over him for a careless collision with the Toro Rosso of Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne at the previous Singapore Grand Prix.
“My motivation is completely intact after the news last week, especially because Suzuka is one of the season’s highlights for me,” Schumacher said in a team preview.
“I enjoy the circuit, it has sections that challenge you as a driver like almost nowhere else. Then there are the fans: They love motor racing and it is fun to feel their passion.”
Schumacher clinched two of his titles at Suzuka, in 2000 and 2003, while another with Benetton in 1995 was secured at Japan’s Aida track.
The German has also won six times at Suzuka.
Although he has no seat at Mercedes next year, after making his comeback with them in 2010 following his retirement from Ferrari in 2006, Schumacher has yet to declare time on his Formula One career.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn told Reuters Television last week that he expected his friend to take time considering his options.
The team have offered him an unspecified role next season while Ferrari-powered Sauber, with whom he raced in sportscars before entering Formula One, could be interested in putting him in one of their cars according to some reports.
Sauber’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez is joining McLaren next year as Hamilton’s replacement.
Schumacher is mathematically out of the title chase, 12th overall and 151 points behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with six races and a maximum of 150 points remaining.agencies