• Brazilian Grand Prix

Button escapes car attack

Jenson Button was in action earlier in the day in qualifying © Getty Images

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• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button

• Teams:
• McLaren

Jenson Button escaped without injury following an armed attack on the car carrying him away from the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo after Saturday's qualifying.

Button's father John, manager Richard Goddard and trainer Mike Collier were also in the car when the incident occurred after qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. A police driver acted swifty to see off the danger and Button managed to escape and return to his hotel.

Button said: "We were going back from the track and were outside a shanty town and moving slowly on a busy road. The next thing I saw was a man with a gun. Our guy angled the car and floored it. That's when we saw six men, all of them brandishing machine-guns. My driver was a legend. It was very scary. I don't know whether they knew who it was they were ambushing. I said, 'Isn't that a gun?' and as soon as I said that, the driver angled the car. My driver bounced off about five cars. We were driving over the top of them."

A statement issued by Button's McLaren team read: "On Saturday evening on the way back from the Interlagos circuit to Morumbi [Sao Paulo], armed would-be assailants made an attempt to approach the car that was carrying Jenson Button. Neither Jenson nor the other occupants of the car were hurt.

"McLaren had provided both Jenson and team-mate Lewis Hamilton with reinforced armoured vehicles driven by police drivers, who had been trained in avoidance techniques and were armed. The police driver of Jenson's vehicle reacted swiftly and, using avoidance techniques, rapidly forced his way through the traffic, taking Jenson and the other occupants of the car immediately away from any danger and back to their hotel.

"The Sao Paulo authorities have also acted efficiently and will be providing additional security to transfer Jenson and other senior McLaren personnel to the Interlagos circuit for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix."

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