Sergio Perez right to race Jenson Button hard

Etiquette and Formula One racing are words that do not fit easily into the same sentence so far as competition is concerned.

And that is no bad thing. Not when, as a grand prix driver, you are both ambitious and talented enough to be a winner and are being frantically urged to be so by your team desperate for massively-moneyed glory.

That is why I was a wee bit puzzled by the experienced Jenson Button’s harsh remarks to his new McLaren partner Sergio “Checo” Perez after they clashed in Bahrain last Sunday when the young Mexican finished sixth against the 2008 champion’s 10th place.

They bumped wheels twice — Perez’s fault, due to over-eagerness — and Button was given to saying: “At 300 kilometres an hour that’s not on. He was too aggressive and he should calm down.”

Button, whom I admire greatly for his skill and courage, is, I am sure, familiar with the eternal and unwritten rule in F1 that the first guy you have to beat is your teammate. Otherwise you could well find yourself out of a job comes season’s end. So it is clear what Perez’s motives were.

Even if behind closed doors at team HQ he did apologise later, urged on by team boss Martin Whitmarsh, I cannot imagine he won’t do it all over again in the heat of the battle.

I most certainly do not approve of actions which could endanger life or position in the race, particularly of your teammate, but racing is racing and whether it is the driver who shares your garage or is in a rival line-up, the same rule applies.

There can be no “after-you” or “excuse me” etiquette in flat-out confrontation right on the edge when the rewards for triumph are so mind-blowing.

If the circumstances were reversed and Button was chasing the leaders instead of fending off the also-rans, he would have been every bit as hell-bent on overtaking as was Perez.

Whitmarsh’s heart would have been in his mouth watching the near-misses from the pit wall as Button radioed for an ease-up of Perez’s enthusiasm, but he said later: “Jenson was upset, but he’s a grown man.

“I was happy with the way Checo raced — it was competitive and that is healthy for the team. Right down to the mechanics they want their car to beat the other. That’s how we work as a race team even if it gives a certain tension. But it is the right thing to do.”

I’d wager Button would not have made the same pleas for his rival to calm down if it had been three times champion Sebastian Vettel he had been duelling with.

So what’s the difference when it’s a teammate and he, quite rightly, wants to be a winner too?

— The writer is a motorsport expert based in London