Grapevine: Button: Indy Can be Wheldon's Ticket to F1

Briton Jenson Button believes that compatriot and boyhood rival Dan Wheldon can join him in Formula One by winning Sunday's Indianapolis 500 race.

Wheldon, 25, made newspaper headlines as 'Upside Dan' at last year's running of the US oval race after escaping unscathed when his car flipped and skidded along the track upside down.

This time the Indy Racing League's 2003 rookie of the year starts on the front row, seeking to become the first Briton to win the prestigious event since the late Graham Hill triumphed at 'The Brickyard' in 1966.

Scotland's Dario Franchitti is also on the front row after qualifying third behind his teammate.

"I think if Daniel wins the Indy 500 then people will notice it," BAR driver Button told reporters at the European Grand Prix. "He's been over here and raced on circuits and people know that, so that should help him. He's been quick in everything he's driven, hasn't he?-- that's normally a good start."

Button said that he had no great desire to do Indianapolis himself, however.

"Racing on ovals has never interested me," he said. "I just don't know if I could mentally be strong enough to just go around in circles all the time."

Canada's former champion Jacques Villeneuve and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya both came into Formula One after winning at Indianapolis. Button, 24, is the leader of a young 'Brit pack' of drivers who grew up racing each other at kart tracks and have graduated to a bigger stage.

Apart from himself and Wheldon, they include BAR test driver Anthony Davidson and Gary Paffett.

"It would be great to see us all in Formula One," said Button.

While Davidson outshone Ferrari's six-times World Champion Michael Schumacher in Friday's first practice at the Nurburgring, Paffett has tested for the McLaren Formula One team and recently won his first race for Mercedes in the German DTM touring car series.

"Anthony and Dan are both a year older than me but we started in karts when I was eight and they were nine," recalled Button. "We raced forever together... we were always head-to-head us three, we had some awesome races. And Paffett as well.

"The four of us were racing in karts together and we were at the top in karting. And we're all doing pretty well in our own fields. We just used to love racing and beating each other. We used to crash and our parents would be having a go at each other and everything and in the end we're all friends."