Button takes comfort from RBR demise

Jenson Button admitted he wasn’t too disappointed to come away with only two points from Valencia after Red Bull’s demise ensured his title lead didn’t suffer further serious damage.

Button had confidently set his sights on moving up from his fifth place grid position but, while team-mate Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a strong race and went on to win, he spent most of the afteroon in eighth position after making a poor start.

But after jumping hitherto main title rival Mark Webber during the final round of stops – who subsequently got relegated out of the points – to keep his championship lead at 18 points, he expressed relief given he had spent most of the race stuck in traffic.

“The small mistake in qualifying and a difficult start caught behind Vettel really cost me today as I got caught in traffic and it's really tough to overtake around this circuit,” he said.


“Still we did what we came for this weekend and beat the Red Bulls, our main title rivals, so I'm not too disappointed with seventh position.

“We'll go to the next race in Spa positive and ready to have a good race."

Barrichello’s victory, and both Red Bull drivers failures to score points, meant the Brazilian veteran re-emerged as Button’s nearest title rival heading into the season’s final six rounds.

Button, who had won all of the team’s six races up until this weekend, was pleased his team-mate had finally managed to end his five-year victory drought.

"Rubens did a great job this weekend and he deserves the victory,” he added.

“It's been a long time so I'm happy for him although of course I would rather be on top of the podium.”

Team boss Ross Brawn was sorry that Button couldn’t exploit the full potential of the improved BGP 001, while ruminating whether it would have been better to have given the championship leader a lighter fuel load in qualifying to ensure a higher grid position.

“Unfortunately it wasn't such a good afternoon for Jenson who had a quick car but was caught in traffic which prevented him from achieving the result that he could have done,” Brawn said.

“In hindsight perhaps we should have been more aggressive in qualifying but his two points today are valuable and we have increased our lead in both championships."

Source: ITV