Button not fooled by cool Vettel
Friday 8th July 2011
Jenson Button has warned Sebastian Vettel he is not fooling anyone with his innocent act regarding the title race.
Six victories and two second-placed finishes from the eight grands prix this year have propelled Vettel into an enviable 77-point lead over his nearest rivals.
Yet despite such dominance, the reigning champion claims he has no idea as to the size of his lead - and he does he want to know - nor does he profess to be aware of his main pursuers.
If it is an attempt at mind games, Button, who is second along with Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, believes it is a pretty feeble one.
"He doesn't really need to play any mind games does he? He is so far in front," said Button.
"Every driver would say 'I'm not looking at the points, not thinking about the championship', but of course he is.
"He will look at it and say 'I've a 77-point lead'. It's massive.
"If he wanted to he could just pootle around and get points and he would be fine, but that's not the way we are.
"We want to compete and we want to do the best job we can, so he will be quick and competitive all season.
"He's won the world championship before, he's a much more relaxed driver. We all are second time around when we try and fight for it.
"But I don't think he is playing mind games. I don't think he is that sort of person."
Vettel looks odds-on to win a second successive title, but said of his position: "To be honest, I don't even think about the gap.
"I don't want you to tell me. I don't even know the gap. I really don't know, so please don't tell me.
"As soon as people start mentioning points I skip that bit. I don't care. There is a long way to go and more points to get.
"What do I gain? What do I learn from it? Obviously I know I'm in the lead - you keep telling me - but it doesn't really matter if it is one point or, I don't know, 100.
"As for who is second, I think it is Jenson? But it's not important who is leading the championship now.
"The most important time is after the last race as we learned last year."
Ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix, in which Button has yet to finish on the podium in 11 attempts, the McLaren driver at least knows Vettel is not unbeatable.
Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to finish ahead of Vettel in a race this season, winning the Canadian and Chinese Grands Prix respectively.
"We've beaten them twice. It's not as much as we'd like to have beaten them, but they (Red Bull) are beatable," added Button.
"Michael (Schumacher) won 13 races or something (12 in 2004) at the start of one year, so we're just going to have to hope that doesn't happen.
"We are close to them. It's not like they have a massive, massive advantage, like one and a half or two seconds or something."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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