Jenson Button isn’t troubled by safety concerns linked to SMP Racing’s LMP1 car after receiving assurances from the Russian squad and following changes made to the BR1’s aerodynamics.
The LMP1 charger suffered a spectacular crash at Spa two weeks ago when driver Matevos Isaakyan’s suddenly went airborne at the top of Raidillon, the car flipping several times before hitting the barriers.
Button made his Le Mans debut on Sunday during the upcoming event’s mandatory test day at the Circuit de la Sarthe, testing the revised SMP BR1 that he will drive alongside Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov.
The Dallara-designed BR1s run by the works SMP Racing squad and customer squad DragonSpeed showed up this weekend with larger front wheelarch openings destined to prevent a build-up of air pressure under the nose.
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“We will now have bigger openings in the front bodywork and we will abandon the more extreme downforce configuration we were planning to run,” Luca Pignacca, head of Dallara’s technical office, told Motorsport.com.
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“We will have more downforce than planned, which unfortunately means we will lose some performance here at Le Mans.”
Button trusts the changes mean he will be racing a safe car at Le Mans on June 16-17.
“I don’t think any experienced driver would get in the car if he wasn’t happy with its safety,” Button told Autosport.
“I had a good meeting with the team to discuss what happened [at Spa] and what the chances are of it happening again.
“I believe in the team, and I trust in the team’s comments and also in Dallara’s.
“They’ve changed the car for Le Mans, which is great.
“I don’t think you have the same situation at Le Mans as you have at Eau Rouge, but still there are some brows, some hills, but they’ve changed the car to help that,” added the 2009 F1 world champion.
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