Button surprised by Vettel claims

Jenson Button had admitted his surprise at Sebastian Vettel's comments that he would ignore team orders again in future.

Vettel, who has been underfire for going against orders from the Red Bull pit wall in Malaysia, revealed that he would 'probably do the same' when speaking to the press in Shanghai ahead of the third race of the season.

Speaking to the media himself having been made aware of Vettel's comments, Button expressed surprise at what the defending champion had had to say - with it revealing a different side to the German's character.

"Lots of people have won world championships without being like that," he was quoted by ESPNF1. "I'm surprised he's said that, personally. He's such a talented driver and he seems like a drive that the team love and they should; he's very successful, he seems like an easy-going character.

"It's surprising for him to say that. Obviously he's done it once; he knew what he was doing. We all want to win, but if you're told to hold station and you know that's the rule before the race then kick up about it before the race, don't just do the opposite in the race and I think that's the biggest issue."

The McLaren man added that he was surprised to see both Red Bull and Mercedes employing team orders so early in the season and that the two teams were wrong to have made the call in only the second race of the year.

"I do not like team orders - I've said that before - but they're legal," he said. "I would understand if I couldn't win the championship anymore. I would understand if the team said to me 'Right, if you're leading this race and your team-mate is in second and needs the points to win the championship' then I would let him past. I wouldn't even need to be told that; I would do it myself because it's the right thing to do. But in the second race of the season I don't think it's the right thing to do.

"The worrying thing is if the idea now is when you get to the last pit stop the guy leading is the guy that wins the race - which I think might have been the way that Red Bull was - then basically you hammer the first part of the race, use as much fuel as you want, you pit before your team-mate to come out in front of him and then that's it; you just cruise home and he can't overtake you. I'm hoping that's not going to be the way from now on - it won't be here."