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Sunday September 13, 2009

Brawn: Button a changed man, but for the better

MONZA: Team boss Ross Brawn defended Jenson Button on Friday against accusations the Formula One driver is sagging under the pressure of leading the championship.

Button won six of the first seven races of the season for his Brawn GP team but has scored just 11 points in his last five.

The Briton now leads Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello by 16 points with five races remaining, including today’s Italian Grand Prix.

“I do see a change in Jenson, but I see it as a positive change,” Brawn told a news conference at Monza.

“I see it as something where he’s diligently thinking about how he puts together a championship year, and how he works on trying to maintain his position.

“But I don’t see anything negative in his approach or his attitude.”

Ferrari’s injured Brazilian Felipe Massa and former British greats Nigel Mansell and Stirling Moss have all suggested in the past week that Button needs to sort out his mind if he is to become champion.

Brawn, who helped Michael Schumacher win seven championships in his time as technical director at Benetton and then Ferrari, said even the now-retired German felt the pressure as the title battled intensified.

“The seventh time was just as tense as the first time,” he said.

“Sometimes being out in front in a championship is the most difficult position, because the cars behind have a lot to lose but the guy in the front is the one who has everything to lose.”

Button was only 19th fastest of the 20 drivers in Friday’s second practice after ending the morning in seventh place.

“We had a few issues. There were a couple of reliability things we had to keep stopping for on a lot of our long runs,“ he told reporters.

“We sorted them out towards the end of the day, which was good, but we weren’t able to do as many long runs as we’d hoped. We did some work but I’m still not happy with the balance, so we’ve got a lot to do overnight and tomorrow.”

“The past couple of races haven’t gone quite as I’d liked but I’m in a good position and looking forward to a good weekend,” he added. — Reuters

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