The contrast could hardly have been starker: in Istanbul Jenson Button looked majestic while his Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello appeared amateurish.
Button scored the most emphatic win of his career in Istanbul, while the veteran Brazilian almost stalled off the grid, fell practically to the back and then got involved in a series of incidents as he tried to make amends.
The tally for the two men this year now stands at six victories for Button, none for Barrichello.
But the difference between them is not as stark as it looks. Asked how he was going to break the cycle of Button’s dominance, Barrichello replied: “It could happen in a second. Just one thing goes your way and suddenly it opens out in front of you.”
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Speaking after the race in Turkey, Barrichello said: “I don’t see Jenson just continuing like this all season.
“We’ve been very closely matched over the last three years and it makes no sense that suddenly I cannot drive to his level. I’m sure that I’m going to be winning races this year too.”
It’s something that Button himself acknowledges, saying: “I have got a very competitive team mate. He’s my strongest rival. It’s not as if I’ve got a newcomer or a guy that doesn’t know how to win races. He’s very competitive.
“When he was allowed to race Michael Schumacher as a team-mate he was very, very quick, quick enough to beat Michael sometimes.
“I’ve got used to winning this year and so when I don’t win - which is going to happen, for sure, because it’s just the law of averages - it’s going to be a bit of a strange feeling.” BBC Sports
The Brazilian, who says he loves Button as a person but hates him as a driver, plans to hit the Formula One leader where it hurts most - in front of the Briton’s home fans at Silverstone next week.
“I don’t want to just win the race. I want a hat-trick there. I want everything. I want fastest lap, I want pole position,” Barrichello said after his failure to finish Sunday’s race left him 26 points adrift of Button.
“It just takes one second (to turn things around).
“With all my experience, I am very cool. Right now I am pissed off with the situation but tomorrow is another day, Silverstone is a great track for me and I will go there and try to win the race,” he added. Yahoo! Eurosport
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