Ralf criticises Button loan deal

Button leading Schumacher at this year's British GP

Ralf Schumacher says the decision to allow Williams team-mate Jenson Button to leave the team for Benetton at the end of the season is a mistake.

The 20-year-old British sensation is to go on loan to Benetton for at least two seasons with Williams retaining the option to recall him for the 2003 season.

He will be replaced by Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the 1998 Formula 3000 title and is currently dominating the American CART Championship.

"It is a pity that we have to dismantle the team to make way for Montoya because for the moment no-one knows whether he is any good," Schumacher told Motorsport Aktuell magazine.

It is a pity that we have to dismantle the team to make way for Montoya because for the moment no-one knows whether he is any good

  Ralf Schumacher

"We should have left the Schumacher-Button pairing intact.

"It's rather unlikely that (Montoya) will come from the CART series into Formula One and win straight away."

Button has been a revelation in his first year in Formula One, and has frequently out-performed his more experienced team-mate Schumacher.

Brilliant Button

Despite by-passing the usual apprenticeship of F3000 and F1 testing sessions, Button has gained five finishes in the points already this year - the best being a fourth place at Hockenheim.

Montoya will not be the first highly-rated driver to cross from CART, formerly known as IndyCar, to F1, and previous experience is not entirely encouraging.

Alex Zanardi and Michael Andretti are just two recent high-profile cases of IndyCar stars who have failed to settle in the European-based Formula One.

Jacques Villeneuve, on the other hand, proved the two disciplines are not mutually exclusive when he followed his success in North America with the 1997 Formula One Drivers' crown.