Button hails his return to the podium at Italian GP
BRITAIN’S Jenson Button toasted a return to form after his first podium finish in six attempts edged him nearer to a maiden world title at the Italian Grand Prix.
Button had to watch as Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello took first place at Monza, and shaved two points off his lead in the drivers’ championship. But with four races remaining he is still a healthy 14 points ahead of Barrichello, while Red Bull rivals Sebastien Vettel and Mark
Webber both lost further ground.
“It’s nice to be back up here with second position,” said the Englishman. “I’d rather be where Rubens is, but he deserved it because he did a great job, and he’s now my closest rival after taking another seven points out of Vettel.”
World champion Lewis Hamilton endured another disappointing day, a final-lap crash relegating him to 12th while the pole-sitter chased Button in third position.
“Lewis started pushing on the final three laps, but I think I had him pretty much covered because it’s difficult to pass here,” Button added. “I don’t know what happened to him at the end, but it’s a great result for me.”
A one-stop strategy gave the Brawn pair an edge over Hamilton, and Barrichello praised the tactics. “It was a great decision,” the Brazilian said.
“Luckily we had a good start, and the pace was then good enough to be ahead of them by their second stop. At 37 I’m driving better than ever.”