register to 888sport
888sport time:

Featured Sport News

Red Bull eye title challenge

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 06/07/2009

A Formula One season that was threatening to peter out into a procession for Brawn GP and sports betting favourite to win the world title, Jenson Button, was given a new lease of life by Sebastian Vettel's success at Silverstone last month.

It certainly wasn't the most thrilling of races but the German's second Grand Prix win of the season following his success in China could turn out to be the turning point of the year.

While Brawn's arrival on the scene and domination of the Australian Grand Prix - when Button won and Rubens Barrichello was second - was a surprise, the new team's subsequent domination had threatened to leave the second half of the season moribund.

Button had gone on to win in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and Turkey, leaving his rivals in his wake with the likes of Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton admitting their title challenge was over with over half of the season still left.

Can Sebastian Vettel challenge Jenson Button for the world title in the second half of the season? - Latest Formula One Betting

The wheels didn't quite come off for Button at the British Grand Prix, but such was Red Bull's dominance of the entire weekend - Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber pushed Barrichello back to third - that the Englishman's now 25-point advantage over Vettel is not looking quite so impregnable.

Brawn struggled with their tyre temperatures at Silverstone and, with the other teams slowly but surely catching up technically, the last nine races of the season could see more new names on the podium.

Ferrari finally appear to be showing some signs of life and, while McLaren, Renault and BMW Sauber still look to be going backwards after another appalling showing at Silverstone, the likes of Williams and Toyota could be set for stronger showings in the second half of the season.

Brawn still hold all the aces and Button spoke after the race of his confidence that the British Grand Prix was just a one-off, but Vettel has shown that, given the opportunity, he has the talent to dominate races.

His fastest lap in the race was more than 0.4 seconds quicker than Button's and, in the opening laps, the German was moving away from Barrichello at a second a lap.

Red Bull's aero package, despite Button's protestations, has certainly made a big difference and team boss Christian Horner has intimated that the advantage it gave his drivers at Silverstone can be replicated at all the remaining circuits.

There are only two more races in the next seven weeks - at the Nurburgring and in Budapest - which will allow the teams to make technological advances and give Brawn the time to worry that the good work they have produced in the last three months could be on the verge of disappearing.

online betting