18/10/2009
NEWS STORY
Despite the fact that he will start today's Brazilian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid following a nightmare qualifying session, championship leader Jenson Button insists he is up for the fight.
Speaking in the wake of a marathon session which saw his main championship rival, and teammate, Rubens Barrichello take pole, the Briton insisted that all was not loss and that he still hopes to wrap up the title this weekend.
"It is so frustrating that I am so far back because I enjoy the wet, and we have been good in the wet this weekend," he told reporters. "So it's very frustrating. But in the dry I know that we have good straight-line speed, so that will help us quite a bit. Also the cars in front of us are more competitive in the wet than in the dry.
"It makes tomorrow very interesting," he continued. "It is going to have to be a hell of a race from me, and I don't want to just be picking up a couple of points. I want a much better result than that, so I am going to be fighting tomorrow."
Referring to the session in which he failed to make it past Q2, he said: "It was like we didn't have a front wing on the car."
It transpires that Button and his teammate were running on different tyre pressures, a decision that also didn't go down to well with the 29-year-old. Asked why they were running different tyre pressures, the Englishman said: "I don't know. You will have to ask the engineers. I haven't asked that question yet, I have been too pissed off to ask any serious questions. But we will run through the information tonight."
Looking ahead to today's race, which is expected to take place in changeable conditions, the Brawn driver said: "It is obviously very difficult to see where you are in the wet. It is difficult to overtake because of the spray, especially when there is a lot of spray because the tarmac here gives a lot of spray. That is why it is so frustrating that I am so far back because I enjoy the wet, and we have been good in the wet this weekend. So it's very frustrating.
"But in the dry I know that we have good straight-line speed," he added, "so that will help us quite a bit. Also the cars in front of us are more competitive in the wet than in the dry."