ID :
58019
Tue, 04/28/2009 - 19:06
Auther :

Red Bull better than us, Button says


Formula One championship leader Jenson Button says Mark Webber's Red Bull Team is
the one to beat for this year's title.
Button, who has won three of the four races this year, believes Red Bull has moved
ahead of his Brawn team, despite Brawn's recent win in Bahrain.
Button took the season-opener in Australia, the rain-hit round in Malaysia and the
Bahrain race.
But Red Bull has been hot on Brawn's heels as the old order of McLaren and Ferrari
have struggled with their under-developed 2009 cars.
Red Bull young gun Sebastian Vettel has already emerged as the biggest threat to
Button's quest for the world championship.
Vettel was headed for third in Australia before a late mishap and spun in Malaysia
but rebounded to win the Chinese GP and finish second in Bahrain.
Webber recorded his best ever result in Formula One when he was runner-up to Vettel
in China.
Despite his latest victory Button regarded his win in the desert as lucky as Vettel
was held up for some time by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
"This one was very sweet because we didn't expect it in a way as Saturday was very
poor in qualifying," Button told autosport.com.
"Everyone has caught up and I think Red Bull has actually overtaken us, so this one
is great and all credit to the guys - it has been a tough few weeks for all of us
away from home."
While there have only been four rounds, all teams are desperately chasing new parts
for the cars in the scramble for higher grid spots.
"The parts on the car are getting very old now, so we can go back to Europe, freshen
the parts up, add the aero kit to the car and hopefully make another step forward,"
Button said.
Brawn boss Ross Brawn said updates from the start of the European season will keep
his cars competitive.
"We have a series for upgrades for Barcelona and beyond. We have to be optimistic.
We have had no upgrades for the first four races, because there was nothing there,"
Brawn said.
"Getting to the first race was as much as we could manage and there was nothing in
the cupboard.
"The process is starting again from the point at which we were able to buy the
company and we got our programme well into the swing again and Barcelona will show
us the benefit of getting it running again."
Brawn, with sponsorship from Richard Branson's Virgin group in place in Melbourne,
is now optimistic the cars can remain on the pace throughout the year.


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