Features

Button keen to regain form

Author: John Harris
Date: 29/08/2009
Formula One betting

Jenson Button has admitted that he must find form and quickly if he is to win the Formula One world championship this season.

Button has an 18-point lead over his nearest challenger at the top of the drivers' standings heading into this week's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

However, the Brawn GP driver has seen his lead at the summit halved following a disappointing series of results since the Turkey Grand Prix in June.

Button, who remains the online favourite to win the drivers' championship, has not made it onto the podium since winning in Istanbul almost three months ago and could only manage a seventh-placed finish at last weekend's European Grand Prix in Valencia.

For a man who won six of the first seven races of the season, his recent form is a cause for genuine concern.

"It's still a big gap so it's not too bad," he admitted in Valencia. "But it seems the people behind me are jockeying for position.

"Sooner or later they will start closing the gap unless I do something about it."

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Button is referring to a growing group of potential title challengers, led by his own team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

The veteran Brazilian profited from a mistake by the McLaren mechanics to win in Valencia ahead of a resurgent reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Barrichello is 18 points behind his team-mate with a possible 60 still up for grabs this season, with the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel also within striking distance.

The key to Button winning the world championship could be the fact that the new-look championship culminates in warmer climates favoured by his Brawn GP car.

Races in Singapore, Brazil and Abu Dhabi feature at the tail end of the calendar and it is in hotter conditions like these countries normally provide that the Brawn car is at its best.

Button was virtually untouchable in Malaysia, Bahrain and Turkey earlier in the year when his car - which requires higher temperatures than most to effectively heat the tyres - left most others in its wake.

Only Red Bull could keep on the coat-tails of the Brawns as Webber and Vettel scored points despite problems with engine reliability.

However, before the Formula One circus heads to warmer climes Button must first attempt to arrest his slump in the less favourable conditions which he will find in Belgium, Italy and Japan.

These next few races could well define one of the most keenly contested and interesting seasons in recent memory.

Brawn and Button still hold a strong hand, but one gets the feeling that there are a few wild-cards left to be played in the final few races of the season.

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