Button expects 'intense' fight in Germany

Sunday 5th July 2009

Jenson Button is confident that he can turn his form around in Germany after a minor slip-up three weeks ago.

Heading to Britain on the back of four successive grand prix wins, the Championship leader stumbled for the first time this season, qualifying sixth and finishing in that same position after a sluggish start saw him caught by his rivals.

His minor mishap allowed Championship rivals Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel to close the gap as they finished first and third.

The Brit, though, still holds a rather comfortable 23-point lead over his team-mate and is determined to extend that advantage next week in Germany.

"The Nurburgring is a tricky circuit but there are two key characteristics which should be good for our car," said Button.

"It is a relatively slow circuit with a lot of medium-speed corners which are one of the strengths of the BGP 001. The Nurburgring 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.

"With the extra week's break, everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines has been working extremely hard in preparation for the German Grand Prix to get the best package for the race and we're looking forward to showing what the car can do at the Nurburgring after a disappointing weekend by our standards at the British Grand Prix.

"My last stint at Silverstone showed that the pace of the car is really competitive so we're confident that we can turn it around at this race. I'm sure we will see a really intense fight with our closest competitors and hopefully a great race for the fans."

Meanwhile, team boss Ross Brawn is confident that the characteristics of the Nurburgring with suit his Brawn GP001 as the team chases their seventh win of the season.

"The team is looking forward to returning to the race track at the German Grand Prix next weekend and the Nurburgring should be a good circuit for our car and play to its strengths," said Brawn.

He added: "We have several new aerodynamic parts from Silverstone which were not used in qualifying and the race due to the issues that we faced there, along with additional improvements scheduled for the Nurburgring, which should position us well going into the weekend.

"As a team, we have a good history of going away from a race, thinking about the outcome, identifying where we need to make improvements and then coming back stronger. As the home Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz, we will be hoping to come away from the race in Germany next weekend with a successful result."

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