Button leads Barrichello by 14 points in the drivers’ championship with four races remaining, although it is the latter who is in the best form at the moment with two wins from the last three races.
Consequently, Barrichello has made up significant ground on his team-mate in recent races, although the challenge of Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber has faded.
And Button revealed he prefers to be challenging with Barrichello due to his better understanding of the Brazilian’s tactics.
“I understand Rubens a lot more than Sebastian and Mark, and obviously he has the same equipment as me,” said the 29-year-old.
“I need to finish as close to Rubens as I can in every race if I am thinking about the championship.
“As long as I qualify well and finish close to him then it is fine.
“However, as every driver will say, they don’t want to do that, they want to go out and win and I have come to Singapore to challenge.” Telegraph.co.uk
But, Ross Brawn doesn’t consider the constructors’ championship is virtually a done deal for Brawn GP, He says, “Mathematically it is not done and, until it is done mathematically, I don’t relax and the team does not relax.”
“It would obviously be fantastic to have the last one or two races without the pressure of the championship, but we are prepared either way. And I have learned from many years in the sport that you don’t take anything for granted until it is actually completed.”
When asked about his preference among the duo, he said: “No, not at all. With two drivers who are so close in performance, it is inevitable with a sport as complex as Formula One racing that one race will favour one more than the other, and when one starts to get the impetus it is quite difficult for the other to break that impetus.”
“It seems that the little difficult period we had midseason hurt Jenson a little bit more than it did Rubens. Rubens found solutions more quickly than Jenson, and now Rubens has got the upper hand slightly. But it’s a very close contest and at this race it could easily go the other way again.”
“I am very delighted to have two drivers who both fight for the championship. We have to fight in a correct and proper way. “ Auto Racing Daily
Pos Team Points 1 Brawn-Mercedes 146 2 RBR-Renault 105.5 3 Ferrari 62 4 McLaren-Mercedes 47 5 Toyota 38.5 6 Williams-Toyota 30.5 7 BMW Sauber 20 8 Renault 20 9 Force India-Mercedes 13 10 STR-Ferrari 5
