World championship leader Jenson Button has admitted he is finding it “tough” to deal with the pressure of battling for the Formula 1 drivers’ title.
The Englishman can win the championship in Japan on Sunday if he scores five more points than his closest rival, his Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
“It’s tough, but it’s also very exciting and I would not change it for the world,” Button said. BBC Sport
“It wouldn’t mean so much to me if I deliberately collided with another driver,” said Button. “I’d feel I’d cheated myself. I’m not the only driver who thinks that. If Rubens [Barrichello, Button’s team-mate] was a different character, a team mate I hated, maybe I’d think differently. But I’m not in that situation. I’d feel that I’d cheated the people watching.
“I want to win fair and square because otherwise you’d think ‘I’ve got this title and I cheated’. What’s the point in that? It’s like doing a running race and taking a short cut and getting a really good time. You just don’t do it.” guardian.co.uk
When pushed with further questions to reflect on winning the world title, he said: “For me, the most important thing is to win the world championship, but not when or where.
“For sure I would love to win at Suzuka. I have a lot of connections with past and present with Japan.”
Button added that he felt optimistic and in good shape ahead of Sunday’s race, but said he wanted a dry race rather than a rain-hit lottery. AFP
Pos Driver Team Points 1 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 84 2 Rubens BarrichelloBrawn-Mercedes 69 3 Sebastian VettelRBR-Renault 59 4 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 51.5 5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 40 6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 37 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 30.5 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 26 9 Timo Glock Toyota 24 10 Jarno Trulli Toyota 22.5 11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 22 12 Heikki KovalainenMcLaren-Mercedes 22 13 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 12 14 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 9 15 Giancarlo FisichellaFerrari 8 16 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 5 17 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 3 18 Sebastien BourdaisSTR-Ferrari 2 19 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 0 20 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 0 21 Luca Badoer Ferrari 0 22 Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes 0 23 Romain Grosjean Renault 0 24 Jaime AlguersuariSTR-Ferrari 0
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