Jenson Button has what it takes to win World Championship, says Edward Gorman

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6700117.ece

How worried should fans be that Jenson Button can't hold on to win the World Championship?

Fans of Jenson's need not panic just yet. He still has a buffer of 21 points between him and Sebastian Vettel and although he hasn't finished on the podium in the past two races and Vettel has, the fact is that Jenson still has a comfortable gap and that is most certainly to his advantage in terms of the championship.

However, there is no doubt that the pressure has increased over the past few races. If we go back just before the British Grand Prix, we were looking at the possibility of the championship being decided with a number of weeks still to go and facing the prospect of a series of dead races to end the season. Now, after what has happened in Germany and at Silverstone, it is much more difficult to make that argument.

Where will the main threat to Button come from? Everybody had been thinking Vettel but is Mark Webber just as credible a contender now?


The first thing was that Red Bull had to produce a good car - they have done that. The next thing was that they had to improve that car - which they have done very successfully, and they have got further improvements to come. So the Red Bull is a real hot machine and it is definitely capable of getting the job done. On the driving front, both their drivers have won a race and both of them have genuine credentials to become Jenson's main challenger, but at the moment it's too soon to say which one it will be.

Up until now it had been thought that it would be Vettel. He was the star, the man for the future, and we are told, the next Michael Schumacher. He has already shown that he is extremely talented and very quick.

But Vettel has made quite a lot of mistakes this year, often in dry races. His starting has been very poor and he has made some uncharacteristic errors, particularly in Turkey when he threw away a victory.

Now we have seen Webber, who is much more experienced, convert his first pole into his first win and that could give him a confidence lift. Who is to say that now he has won a race he won't go on and win more?

Why the change in Brawn's performance, especially compared to the increasingly impressive Red Bulls? Will a return to warm weather racing have a big effect on them?

The original analysis from Brawn was that their dip in performance was all to do with the temperature at which the tyres on their car "switch on". The car enjoys warm conditions. They didn't get those at Silverstone or the Nurburgring. So the upside for them is that when conditions get hotter, as they will in Hungary in ten days' time, at the Italian Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix in Valencia, we should see their car find its pace and it should be more than a match for the Red Bulls.

But there is definitely a feeling that while all that is true, the Red Bull car is starting to eat into the Brawn superiority regardless of conditions. Christian Horner, Red Bull's team principal, said in Germany on Sunday that he feels they have now got a car that can challenge Brawn's in all conditions and on any circuit. If that's the case, Red Bull will have to decide which driver they want to challenge Jenson Button and we could have a real battle.

What is the atmosphere around the Brawn camp? It seems Rubens Barrichello overstepped the mark yesterday and is likely to come in for censure.

There was genuine shock in the paddock that Barrichello was prepared to publicly criticise his own team, albeit in the heat of the moment, which must be pretty galling for the rank and file people in that team.

I am sure Ross Brawn will attempt to play this down as an understandable reaction from a man speaking in a moment of anger, where Rubens said things he didn't mean.

The reason his outburst was so surprising is because many people believe he is fortunate to have the drive at Brawn at all. If Honda had continued to run the team as it was the likelihood is that Barrichello wouldn't have been given the drive. He was kept on by Brawn because he was seen as a safe pair of hands. However, the whisper around the paddock is that he is unlikely to be kept on next season.

How do you expect Button to cope with the challenge? Would you back him to handle to pressure?

Button has handled all the pressure that has come his way this season remarkably well. He has answered all the questions that have been asked of him up to this point brilliantly and his driving has been almost faultless. However, after the past two races a whole new set of questions are being asked of him.

Button has been around quite some time now and has tasted both success and failure. All that has led to him developing a very even temper, where almost nothing bothers him. Having said that I know he is very keen to get back onto the podium in Hungary, which is a very twisty circuit where track temperatures are almost always very high. That will favour the Brawns and if he can get back on the podium that will be a huge lift to his confidence in terms of the championship.



Go Button!