Jenson Button delighted to be the title underdog
Jenson Button is relishing his position as the underdog in this year’s championship fight and hopes to take an all-or-nothing approach to the final three races of this season. It is quite logical as he has no other choice left and he will have to give it
his all in order to decrease the deficit the championship leader Mark Webber has over him in the drivers’ standings.
Jenson took last year’s title after gaining a marginal lead over his rivals in the first seven races and then adopted a strategy of damage limitation during the second half of the 2009 season. He is in 5th place currently 31 points adrift of the
championship leader Mark Webber. The reigning world champion has not been able to close the deficit since the past couple of races but still believes that he has a good chance of winning.
If Lewis Hamilton gave this statement, one might believe him but since it is Jenson Button, it is hardly believable as he said the very same thing before the past couple of races and has been in “defence” mode ever since. Jenson does not have that sort of
a nature and he cannot be as aggressive as his rivals.
"It's all relative. At this time of the season, if you're ahead on points then you can't do anything risky, but if you're behind, then you've got more confidence to be aggressive, because you've got less to lose”, he said.
Since the Korean International circuit is going to be a new circuit, the race is going to be quite unpredictable however, according to the track layout, there are many long straights and it is said that the Korean track contains the longest straight in the
Formula 1 calendar. Since McLaren has the best straight line speed this season with the help of their unique F-duct, one has to admit that McLaren will be the most favourite team for the race.
“For me, it's a very different situation compared to where I was last year, and I'm actually looking forward to taking the fight to the leaders, because I've got nothing to lose by doing that”, he added.
Jenson thinks that he has nothing to lose and it is about time that he shows his aggressive side to the Formula 1 universe. If Jenson finishes behind the top 4 drivers, he will lose the championship this year anyway so his decision of taking risks at the
next race is quite logical.
"If it doesn't come off, at least I'll know that I'll have given it everything. And luck has a habit of going in cycles, our team hasn't had the greatest of fortunes recently, so who knows what'll happen at the next race? It could all turn around”, said
the reigning world champion.
He believes that McLaren was not able to deliver its full potential at the Japanese grand prix but hopes to change that in the upcoming race in Korea. McLaren was not able to test its new upgrades due to some uncertain conditions disabling the team to experiment
with their car.
McLaren has been the best team at the speedy tracks this season and the Korean International circuit just might be the track where McLaren takes a step forward in their championship hunt.
Jenson thinks that if they scored good times in the qualifying session of the Japanese Grand prix, things would have been a little better for the race. One can disagree with Jenson here as his teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified in 3rd place but
was penalized for five places on the grid for a gearbox change.
However, the car was looking pretty good and the Jenson and Lewis were able to drive it to its limits. That was an encouraging sign for the two British drivers and this might boost their confidence level for the final three races left in this season.
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