Formula One world championship leader Briton Jenson Button will race with more aggression in a bid to secure victory in this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix and tighten his grip on the title-race.
After four races without a win, the 29-year-old Englishman knows the time has come for him to wring all he can from himself and his Brawn GP car in a bid to make sure that he makes the most of his 18-point lead in the championship.
He said: ”It is better to be consistent and not crash, but if you are consistent and get two points it is not enough now. So, I am going to go to Spa to be more aggressive, for sure: in every way, not just driving, but with the strategy and with the tyres.
”It is where we have got to be because otherwise it [my lead] is going to be slowly eaten away. It is a very difficult season this year because we have had some really poor weekends and some really strong weekends.
”The race in Valencia was the first time when we have had a strong car that I have not been able to get the most out of it. That was frustrating and I have to turn it around.”
Button finished only seventh in last Sunday’s European Grand Prix, won by his Brawn GP teammate, veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
It was the Latin American’s first win in five years and enabled him to leap to second in the title race, just 18 points behind his teammate.
Button, winner of six of the opening seven races this year, said: ”It is pretty amazing that I am still so far ahead. My best finish has been fifth in the last two.
”Valencia should have been a lot more, but it wasn’t. I got two points, though, and I’ve got 18 points over Rubens. That is still a good margin but Rubens is very quick at the moment.
”The good thing is that the Red Bulls are still going to be fighting [each other]. They are going to be quick, for sure, over the next few races, especially the next one at Spa, but I don’t think the McLarens will be as quick as they have been.
”I think we have sorted out a few of our issues, and we have some updates, so Rubens and myself will be very quick at Spa. I just hope I can get a good lap in qualifying, as I have been doing most of the season, because two-and-a-half tenths can be three places on the grid.
”You need the perfect lap. I enjoy Spa and I think we can have a good weekend there.”
While Button looked ahead confidently and Barrichello enjoyed the aftermath of his Valencia win, the Red Bull pairing of Australian Mark Webber and German Sebastian Vettel were licking their wounds after a pointless weekend, and reviewing their engine strategy for next year.
”The team has to decide in the next few days what to do for engines for 2010,” admitted Red Bull team adviser Helmut Marko, who noted carefully that while his team have suffered four engine failures this season — including two last weekend for Vettel alone — their various six rivals running with the Mercedes-Benz engines have had no failures at all.
”I am convinced they have the capacity to supply four teams, not just three,” he added, referring to Mercedes-Benz’s existing arrangements with McLaren, Brawn and Force India.
After their strong showing again in Spain where defending champion Briton Lewis Hamilton was unlucky not to win, McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said he is expecting another good performance in Belgium this weekend.
”I think we have some down-force now, which is quite handy in high-speed corners. I can’t honestly predict where we will be, but we will be much more competitive than we would have been [earlier in the season].”
McLaren’s resurgence, added to Brawn’s revival of form and Red Bull’s need to bounce back from a hugely disappointing weekend in Valencia, signals that this Sunday’s race has all the prospects of being a closely contested and thrilling event on the calendar’s most classic circuit.
Last year’s race around the venue, which mixes purpose-laid asphalt racing track with ordinary country roads in the rolling forests of the Ardennes, was a memorable encounter overshadowed by thrills and controversy.
Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari was finally handed victory, though without ever leading the race, after Hamilton was disqualified following an exciting victory for McLaren and a spectacular racing duel with Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.
Another dose of something similar will be sufficient to make sure that everyone is kept on the edge of their seats again with Ferrari’s Raikkonen, a bit of a Spa specialist, capable of upsetting the odds to grab his first win this year. — Sapa-AFP