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Formula One championship leader Jenson Button will pay a heavy price if he has another weekend like Sunday’s race in Belgium, according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
“He can’t continue to have race weekends like he’s had without being punished points-wise in the next couple of events,” Horner said after the Brawn driver crashed out on the first lap at Spa.
“It’s still a four-horse race between now and the end of the championship.”
Button won six of the first seven races but has been making increasingly heavy work of his title bid as the pressure builds up. He has taken just 11 points from his last five starts and on Sunday failed to score for the first time. The New York Times
The 29-year-old’s Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello limped over the line with smoke pouring from the back of a car that caught fire in the pit lane, claiming two points for seventh to close within 16 points.
As for Horner’s drivers, Sebastian Vettel is now 19 points adrift after the 21-year-old finished third at Spa.
Mark Webber, meanwhile, failed to score for the second successive race - trailing home ninth after taking a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release from the pits, leaving him 20.5 points down. Although the trio are struggling to catch Button, Horner feels he will soon pay the price if he fails to improve.
“Rubens has taken 10 points out of him in the last two races and Sebastian six points here - and he’s not had a good weekend since Istanbul in early June,” assessed Horner. The Press Association
“It’s all left to play for, and I think there’s going to be another twist in the championship between now and the end of the year.”
“Sebastian has moved to within 19 points and although Mark didn’t score both still have a real chance of overhauling him.”
Button remained calm but recognised that he had to do something to make life easier for himself.
“I’m positive and excited about the challenge of the next few races. I’m not frustrated or negative,” he said.
“We’ve got to start getting back to being competitive. All I need to do is finish fourth or fifth, but that’s not what I want to do. I want to win races. Yahoo! Eurosport
