Wednesday February 16th, 2000

Britain's Jenson Button has satsfied the criteria for racing in Formula One and his application for a "superlicence" is being prepared, his BMW-Williams team said on Wednesday.

Max Mosley, the president of the FIA governing body, had said on Monday that the 20-year-old could not race until he had passed the test for a superlicence and been approved by 18 members of the 26-man Formula One commission.

Williams spokesman Nav Sidhu said Button, who will be the youngest Briton to race in Formula One when he lines up on the grid at Melbourne on March 12, had completed a mandatory 300 km in a Formula One car over a two day period.

"He did that at Kyalami (in South Africa) on Sunday and Monday," he said.

"We are processing his application now and do not envisage any problem. It was never a problem for Williams."

Button, who replaced Italian Alex Zanardi at Williams, might have had more of a problem on Monday when a bird smacked into the airbox of his car just above his head when he was travelling at around 160 mph.

"There was zero damage to the car, zero to the driver, maximum damage to the bird," said Sidhu.

"He (Button) had a lucky escape but it needs to be put into context. If it (the bird) had hit him in the visor, it could have caused some damage."

Button's father told newspapers it had been a frightening incident nonetheless. "Jenson's helmet looked as though someone had thrown a bottle of tomato sauce over it," he said.

"All that was left of the bird was its legs, but they were about seven inches long so it must have been a fair size."