Button unsure over remainder of season

Jenson Button admits that choosing a manner in which to approach the remaining seven races of 2009 is a perplexing task. With an 18.5-point lead over Mark Webber in the Drivers' Championship but a Brawn car which has lost ground over its rivals, the Englishman hopes to defend as best as possible in Valencia this weekend.

Of the four weeks in F1's summer break of 2009, team factories were obliged to remain shut for a fortnight; with this fact in mind, two weeks' worth of development has taken place since the Hungarian Grand Prix although, with only seven days between the European and Belgian races, time for development is of the essence meaning that any performance differential witnessed between Valencia and Spa will be more circuit dependant than any modifications which have taken place on cars.

"I don't know, it's a very difficult one," championship leader Button said in Spain on Thursday. "With Rubens (Barrichello, Brawn GP team-mate), he has been very close to me in most of the races, he has been quicker than me in qualifying in a couple of races and he has always been there - very close. He hasn't won any races this year, which I'm sure is tough, but he has been very close to doing that and always on my heel."

Apart from the possible threat in his own team, Button's biggest rivals remain the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel with possible spoilers in the mix being, most notably, the KERS-shod McLarens and Ferraris plus the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Renault of Fernando Alonso. "You would say that, at the start of the season, Vettel was quicker but Mark was more consistent in maybe the first six or seven races," Button continued.

"Mark has upped his game in qualifying and race pace and the last couple of races he has been very strong, so he has got the advantage over Vettel but Vettel is not going to settle into third in the championship, he's still fighting for the title; it's good to have those two going at it hard between them - that is the only positive I can take out of the last few races, really."

Jenson is also undecided over whether the improving pace of other teams is a pro or con for Brackley's Brawn GP. "Well, it is a difficult one," he described. "I don't know if it is a positive or a negative because it helped me in Hungary but it might not help me at other circuits - I don't know; it also makes things a lot more complicated for us when it comes down to strategy - it makes it very difficult for the cars that don't have KERS.

"Both the Red Bulls and us, who are fighting for the championship, have two Ferraris and two McLarens that are going to be around us on the start and have a very good opportunity to get past us, so it makes our strategy so, so difficult and, particularly for teams that are fighting for the World Championship, it is quite unusual to have that worry."

Source: GP Update