Thursday, July 28, 2011

GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Jenson Button expects three-way fight at Hungarian GP

Jenson Button expects three-way fight at Hungarian GP

Page last updated at 15:26 GMT, Thursday, 28 July 2011 16:26 UK

By Sarah Holt
BBC Sport at the Hungaroring


McLaren's Jenson Button expects another close fight between the top teams at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton won a race-long battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Mark Webber in Germany on Sunday.

On arriving at the Hungaroring, Button said: "We've had four different winners in the last four races and hopefully we'll have a great race here."

Webber added: "It will be tight again. All three teams have shown form."

Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren have won a race apiece at the last three grands prix in Valencia, Silverstone and the Nurburgring.

Sebastian Vettel has built a 77-point lead over his Red Bull team-mate Webber in the championship, with Hamilton third and 82 points further back, but hopes are now high that there can now be a real three-way fight for race victories.

Hamilton said: "It'd be fantastic if it was (a tight battle at every race from now on), wouldn't it? I'd happily have me, Jenson, Fernando and Mark and then Sebastian further back - that would be ideal. Then the championship would be tight all the way down to the end.

"Last weekend sparked something special in the team and hopefully that's encouraged them to push even moved.

"I'm pushing and pushing and sometimes you have to break through a wall of caution. We pushed through the limits last weekend and we've raised our limit and our margins and now we have more space to keep pushing more."

LAST FOUR GP WINNERS

- Canada - Jenson Button (McLaren)
- Europe - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
- Britain - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
- Germany - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

Button, who took the chequered flag in Canada but retired from the last two races, added: "It's a great time for Formula 1 to have three top teams fighting at the front.

"If you look at the last few races we've all been making improvements in different areas. There's been a good fight and no easy victories.

"There is going to be a lot of competition. We are all pushing as hard as we can."

Webber is the only one of the top five drivers in the championship who is yet to win a race this season.

And after leading for one stint of the German GP, the Australian is aiming to emerge victorious from the tight front-running field.

"I'm looking to give it another crack this weekend," said Webber, whose strong record in Hungary includes a race victory last season.

"I've been consistent but I'm not getting carried away with my recent runs of results - we still need to tick that final box.

"McLaren and Ferrari aren't hanging around and qualifying has tightened up a bit. Whether it's three [teams fighting] remains to be seen but two could definitely challenge for the victory."

The Australian warned that Red Bull needed to improve the car after he lost the lead in Germany and Vettel finished off the podium for the first time this season.

But Webber insisted in Hungary: "There are no knee-jerk reactions. We don't start planning more stuff faster than we would have done.

"We were a little bit off the pace in the Nurburgring, we need to go quicker again. The most important thing is to react in a positive and constructive way."

HUNGARIAN GP FACTS

- Button and Alonso both took their maiden F1 victories in Hungary, in 2006 and 2003
- Vettel has failed finish in Hungary in two of the last thee years
- Hamilton has won the Hungarian GP twice , in 2007 and 2009
- Webber is still looking for his first win in 2011
- Massa was leading in Hungary in 2008 with three laps to go when his engine failed

Vettel shrugged off questions from the media throng about his disappointing performance in Germany and prefered to focus on returning to the front of the pack this weekend.

"I'm here to win," said the world champion, who has six victories to his name this season. "I'm not here to finish second or third but fourth place [in Germany] was our optimum. I did not feel comfortable all weekend.

"For here we want to be on the top again. We expect Ferrari and McLaren to be very quick and to be our main rivals.

"You can see that Ferrari in particular have improved their pace and become quicker and quicker."

Fernando Alonso has led Ferrari's resurgence with a win in Britain and two second places in Valencia and Germany. His team-mate Felipe Massa expects the Italian marque to be at the heart of the battle this weekend - though surprisingly picked a rival team to dominate.

"The last races we saw an improvement from our car and McLaren," said the Brazilian. "Red Bull was always very strong.

"Here we can see another fight between us. Sometimes you have a track that is better for one car - and I think it will be McLaren again."

Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)

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