Jenson Button has scoffed at Sir Richard Branson's claim that Formula E is poised to overtake Formula One as motor racing's elite category.
Branson, who was speaking at the Formula E season decider at Battersea Park in London last weekend, said: "I think four or five years from now you'll find Formula E overtaking Formula One in terms of number of people. there's still going to be room for Formula One, but I would say there will come a time when Formula E will overtake it."
But while Button acknowledged that F1 is "too complicated" in its current format, he dismissed Branson's suggestion that Formula E, the FIA-backed electric series, will soon become the more popular of the two categories.
"No, I disagree with him completely," Button told Press Association Sport. "Formula E is a good addition to motorsport because that series will be the electric series and the rest of us can get on with motor racing.
"I think it is good that it is in cities and it attracts people who are not motorsport fans because it is easy to walk down to Battersea Park for example and see a car go round. It doesn't disturb anyone either because it is not very loud.
"I've watched a couple of races - not because of the cars or the sounds it doesn't do anything for me - but the drivers do. The drivers are making that series."
Formula One has come under heavy criticism this season following a number of largely processional races.
Mercedes have extended their dominance at the sharp end of the pack, while Button and McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso were dealt a combined, and somewhat farcical, 50-place grid penalty for a raft of changes to their respective Honda power units ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this month.
"You take a five-place penalty for a new MGU-H and MGU-K and it is very complicated - a n eight-year-old kid doesn't want to know what that is, and some of the people in the sport really struggle to understand what it is, too", added Button.
"I had a 25-place penalty in Austria and there is only 20 cars on the grid, so how is that possible? There are quite a few things that need to be looked at."
F1's strategy group will meet on Wednesday in a bid to solidify plans for the 2017 season to make the sport more entertaining. It has already been suggested that the cars will be quicker, wider and noisier.
"Criticism will be there forever but you just have to make sure it doesn't get out of hand," Button, speaking at the launch of Santander Cycles' Summer of Cycling, said.
"There are a lot of issues that people are talking about right now, but it seems as though the people who can make a difference are listening now and there are lots of possible changes in place for the future and a lot of them sound really exciting.
"Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport and if a kid is not finding a Formula One car exciting then there is something wrong.
"When I grew up, F1 was just the pinnacle because of the smell, the speed, the personalities, and that always needs to be there. We need to be very careful with the way the sport goes, but the changes that I see happening are positive."
Source: PA
