Brawn’s one-two at the Italian Grand Prix has made the title race a private battle between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello at the same time as the momentum within the team is riding firmly with the Brazilian.
Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are now effectively out of the reckoning. With four races to go they are not realistically going to take an average of seven points per race out of Button’s lead.
The Englishman has a 14-point lead over his team-mate but although the mathematics are very much in Button’s favour, and he now seems to have got over his tentative period, there can be no denying the Brazilian’s current form.
Button was very much the dominant one of the pairing in the first half of the season, winning six races in a period when his team-mate won none, but Barrichello has been quicker since.
Championship pressure has almost certainly played its part with Jenson as he has sought to strike the appropriate balance between aggression and circumspection in a car that had lost its competitive advantage, leaving him to protect a points lead when in the middle of the pack.
But the swing in Barrichello’s favour is about more than the differing psychological pressures of the hunter and the hunted. There are technical reasons too. BBC Sport
Jenson Button revived his world title challenge when he finished a close second to team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the Italian grand prix and declared: “This guy is my closest rival now.”
He added: “We’ve got a good relationship. We’re still going to be sharing information because it’s possible for Red Bull to be strong at some of the next races. My advantage has got smaller and Rubens is going to be a tough rival. He’s shown his skill over the years and it looks like this is going to go down to the wire. It’s going to be a tough few races, that’s for sure.”
“There’s a saying that you only win in F1 if you’re tough. But we’re both nice guys and the best thing in life is respect. That’s what we have; it’s an open book between us. At the end of the day, our cars are set up in a similar way. I just had the edge, but there’s nothing in it. The main thing right now is that we scored maximum points and our rivals had problems,” said Barrichello. Guardian.co.uk
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