Formula 1 blog

Jenson Button is hoping he and McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton can keep the pressure on Red Bull in next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren have shown good pace of late, with Hamilton and Button taking a victory apiece in the last two races.

Button said: “Our aim will be to put pressure on the championship frontrunners, particularly Red Bull.”

Hamilton added: “We go to Spa in a pretty good place. We’ve won the last two races and the car feels strong.”

Hamilton currently lies third in the drivers’ championship, 88 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel, with Button a further 12 points adrift.

However, after Red Bull won six of the first eight races courtesy of Vettel, McLaren have made significant gains on frontrunners Red Bull in terms of both qualifying and race pace.

Hamilton was just one tenth of a second off pole in Germany and went on to secure a superb dominant victory. The 2008 world champion also led much of the Hungarian Grand Prix before poor race strategy dropped him to fourth.

Button, meanwhile, bounced back from two retirements to win his second race of the season with a masterful drive at the Hungaroring before the summer vacation.

While Hamilton used the break to head to the United States to spend some time with his singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, Jenson Button whisked his model girlfriend Jessica Michibata to Hawaii.

Now, the duo are back feeling refreshed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on 28 August, with Hamilton confident the team’s latest aerodynamic updates will prove a success at Spa.

“We’ve worked hard to improve the set-up, so it’s really inspiring confidence at the moment, which means you can push it that little bit further, particularly in qualifying,” added Hamilton.

“Of course, the weekend is likely to be affected by the weather, which is always somewhat unpredictable at Spa.

“I’d prefer a dry race, but, to be honest, I’ll take any track condition. I just can’t wait to get back out in my car.”

Button added: “It felt great to go into the summer break off the back of the win in Hungary.

“That was a race I think we could just as well have won in the dry as in the damp – which will be worth bearing in mind in Spa, as it’ll probably be wet and dry and everything in between at some point during the weekend.

“Our car definitely feels really driveable right now, so I don’t think this weekend’s tyre compound selection will affect us too much.

“I don’t think the DRS [overtaking aid] will be as critical here as it’s been at some of the other circuits.

“I’m still not certain where it will be deployed, but there’s always been lots of opportunities to use the slipstream up the hill out of Eau Rouge to pass into Les Combes.”

The owners of the Silverstone racing circuit have submitted plans to develop the area around the track.

The British Racing Drivers’ Club wants to build a business park, technology park, an education campus and three hotels at the Northamptonshire track.

There are also visitor facilities planned such as a Welcome Centre and a museum of motor sport.

South Northants and Aylesbury Vale District Councils will consider the plans that could create 8,000 jobs.

Stuart Rolt, chairman of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, said: “Both councils are fully aware of how important Silverstone is to the local area.”

The plans are part of a long-term project which was launched in 2009. The company will need to to find investors to fund the development after approval.

The circuit has already had some major alterations over the past couple of years including an addition to the track and a new pit and paddock.

Richard Phillips, managing director of Silverstone Holdings Ltd, said: “This is the most important initiative that Silverstone has taken in its 60 year history.”

Red Bull will not change their approach to the remainder of the season despite failing to win the last three races.

Sebastian Vettel, who has an 83-point championship lead, and team-mate Mark Webber both called for a re-think.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told BBC Sport: “We work as a team and the drivers don’t need to tell the team we need to respond.

“Ferrari and McLaren are going through a competitive phase but we’re still right there. We’re pushing flat out.”

Vettel stormed to victory in six out of the first eight races but his progress has been slowed as Ferrari and McLaren have improved their pace in the races to close the gap on Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso won in Britain for Ferrari, with McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button taking a victory apiece in Germany and Hungary.

While it appears that Red Bull’s period of dominance is over, Horner does not accept that the tide has turned against the champion team.

“We don’t look at it like that,” said Horner. “We need to keep doing the best job we can and keep getting developments to the car.

“If you look at all the races this year, I don’t think there’s any races that we’ve run away and hugely dominated.

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Vettel rues ‘missed chance’ in Hungary

“If you think back to Melbourne, Hamilton was closely behind Seb and in Barcelona, even in Valencia Alonso was very tight with us.

“Operationally we’ve been very, very sharp and we’ve extracted the best from the car on a grand prix weekend and that’s where the team has been very strong this year.

“These tyres are very complicated but the one thing that has been consistent is Red Bull running at the front.”

Going into Formula 1’s summer break, Red Bull are 103 points clear of McLaren in the team standings.

But Horner ruled out taking a more cautious approach in the final eight races to ensure the team bring both titles back to their Milton Keynes factory for the second season running.

“Nothing changes in our philosophy,” said Horner. “We’ll keep pushing, keep attacking every single grand prix because you cannot back off.

“As soon as you start looking to consolidate that is when you make mistakes.

“Our target is to win every single grand prix between now and the end of the year. In reality that’s going to be impossible but in the races that we can’t win then we want to be second, and if we can’t be second then we want to be on the podium.

“So long as we come away from each weekend optimising what we’ve got, hopefully over the course of the season that should be enough.”

The season resumes on the challenging Spa circuit in Belgium where changeable conditions can make it hard to read form, before the full-throttle, low-downforce challenge of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Both tracks are expected to play into the hands of Red Bull’s rivals but Horner insisted he is not worried.

“The formbook with these tyres and regulations is absolutely turned on its head,” he continued.

“Monza historically has not been our strong circuit; Spa we finished second last year, so it would be fantastic to win that race. We just have to treat each weekend as it comes.”

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Webber admits wrong call on tyres

Before the racing resumes, Horner will meet Webber – who has already spoken to Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz – to discuss the Australian’s future with the team.

Webber, who turns 35 this year, agreed with Horner last season that they would only do one-year contracts and a deal has not yet been agreed for 2012.

“We always said we’d sit down in the latter part of the summer and that’s what we’ll do,” added Horner.

“I don’t see any obstacles that will prevent that and I don’t see any dramas associated with it. I expect him to be here next year.”

McLaren’s Jenson Button will ignore the drivers’ championship and target beating Sebastian Vettel on a race-by-race basis after winning in Hungary.

The Englishman admitted that failing to finish the two previous races had made his chances of catching the Red Bull driver in the championship very slim.

“Coming here I just got my head down and focused,” said Button.

“I have to beat Seb in every race from now on, and we’ll go out and try and do just that.”

Button said McLaren intended to make the most of the momentum they have established when the season resumes in Belgium in three weeks’ time.

“We’ve won three out of the last five races, so it’s been pretty good for us,” he said. “We will enjoy the break but we will be thinking about Spa every day.”

With eight races remaining Button is fifth in the drivers’ championship, still 100 points behind leader Vettel.

The manner of his victory in the 200th grand prix of his career confirmed Button’s mastery in testing wet-dry track conditions, as McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh acknowledged.

“Those were very, very difficult conditions this afternoon, and it was easy to get it wrong, but Jenson drove a great race,” said Whitmarsh.

“His measured yet combative drive was a testament to how naturally smooth and smart he is on the racetrack, and he really deserved this win.”

“I’m always lucky with these conditions,” smiled Button, who started third on the grid, behind Vettel and McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

“You are not always going to make the right call, but I feel I’m pretty good at making the right call when it comes to tyre choices.

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Button delighted with strategy

“We had good pace today and I was able to make the soft tyres last, but the reason why we won today was because we were quick – if it hadn’t rained, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

“I knew I was in good shape, the car was working well for me. I thought it was a matter of time in the dry conditions to get the jump on Lewis because at the end of the stints he was struggling.

“It turned out a little bit different with the rain coming down, but I had a lot of fun all the same.”

He suggested he had intended to ignore a McLaren pit-lane instruction to follow Hamilton into the pits to switch to intermediate rain tyres late in the race, a call that was quickly rescinded.

“I was never really going to come in for ‘inters’, I didn’t think it was the right choice,” said Button.

His win means both he and Hamilton have two victories to their name this season.

Michael Schumacher has admitted that his blocking of Rubens Barrichello in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix was “too hard”. Schumacher almost edged Barrichello into the pit wall as he tried in vain to stop his former team mate passing him for P10 late in the race.

In post-race interviews the Mercedes driver suggested his tactics had been harsh but fair. However, having received a 10-place grid penalty for the next round from the Budapest stewards – and having had a day to reflect – Schumacher has now conceded that he overstepped the mark…

Disappointment was written all over Sebastian Vettel’s face as he received his third place trophy on the Budapest podium. It should have been his race, but the Red Bull driver could not reap the rewards from his prior dominance of the weekend. He may have been angry at the time, but Vettel is not one to dwell on what might have been, and after a few days relaxing at home he’ll be concentrating on the next round at Spa…

The Hungarian Grand Prix not only put a victorious Mark Webber firmly back in the championship race, it left fans with the tantalising prospect of a genuine five-way fight for the title over the season’s final seven rounds, with just 20 points covering the leading contenders.

Red Bull’s Budapest pace might suggest they’re favourites, but the RB6 is unlikely to be so perfectly suited to the remaining tracks…

1st Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h41m05.571s; 2nd Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), 1h41m23.392s; 3rd Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1h41m24.823s.

Q: Mark, a commanding win by the end of 70 laps. But it was probably the 43 you managed in your first stint that really set it up.
Mark Webber: Yeah, that’s right. The start we always knew was going to be a little bit tricky on that side. Fernando got a good start…

Red Bull’s Mark Webber is looking forward to some relaxation in Formula One’s traditional summer break, spending some time with his dogs and avoiding planes and hotel rooms. And what better way to start that break than by winning your 150th Grand Prix and seeing yourself and your team take the lead in the championship standings…