Formula One news

Button not panicking about Red Bull

Jenson Button remained content with his championship lead after another difficult race in Germany. Having finished sixth at Silverstone, the Englishman crossed the finish line just inside the top five at the Nürburgring but retains a healthy lead over the Red Bull Racing drivers.

With Red Bull's one-two allowing its drivers to slip ahead of Rubens Barrichello and into the second and third positions of the standings, Button's lead has now been reduced to 21 points to Sebastian Vettel although the Frome-born driver will remain ahead the Belgian Grand Prix at the very earliest.

The championship leader had a complicated race at the Nürburgring on Sunday

"It's quite good because Vettel's now got him right behind him in the championship," said Button of Mark Webber, who won for the first time on Sunday. "They'll be taking points off each other - if Vettel had won here it would have been a disaster. I'm looking forward to Hungary, though, when we should have a few new parts. We really need to beat the Red Bulls there."

With Jenson finishing two places further back from where he started in Germany, what problems did the team suffer from? "The start was bad with cars all around me and people outbraking themselves," Button explained. "I got a few places back and got up to fourth with Massa and Kovalainen but their pace was way off and there was no way through, so it made it a difficult race.

"Then I spent some time behind Rubens and his pace on the prime tyre (the harder tyre compound on offer during a weekend, in this case Medium) wasn't good. My pace on the option tyre (the softer tyre, this weekend Super Soft) was bad because, with the track being quite cool, I struggled to keep the heat in them - then I had graining and big degradation - I thought we could have been on the podium behind the Red Bulls but it was not possible."

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