Button Puts Tyres Debacle Behind Him for German Grand Prix
Jenson Button goes in to the German Grand Prix this weekend full of confidence that he will restore Brawn’s supremacy.
After coming a disappointing sixth place at Silverstone when he struggled to get heat into the tyres, the team have dismissed this as a blip rather than a significant sea change in form.
Tyres strategy will of course play a crucial role during the Nurburgring race, but Brawn also have several new aerodynamic parts to bring into play on the famous circuit.
In the view of both Button and Ross Brawn there were hard technically quantifiable reasons for the relatively poor showing at the British Grand Prix where Button finished three places behind his team-mate, Rubens Barrichello.
“We have several new aerodynamic parts from Silverstone which were not used in qualifying due to the issues that we faced there (lower than expected tyre temperatures in Friday free qualifying),” said Brawn. “We also have some new aerodynamic components specifically for Nürburgring which should position us well going into the weekend.”
Button is more guardedly optimistic. “The Nürburgring is a tricky circuit but there are two key characteristics which should be good for our car,” he said.
“It is a relatively slow circuit which could play to the strengths of the BGP 001 chassis. The Nürburgring is also one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar, so you need a car which will be good through the four heavy braking zones.”
Button knows that his biggest challenge, apart from that of his own team-mate Barrichello, is set to come from his closest rival, Sebastian Vettel, and his Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber.
Alex Kapadia, Operations Team
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