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| Ross Brawn © Gallo Images |
Team boss Ross Brawn admitted on Monday that his team is now perfectly poised to secure the Formula One world title after Rubens Barrichello
and Jenson Button's one-two finish in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The Briton insisted that in the event of a Brawn duel for the crown the team would only favour one driver over the other once it became
arithmetically impossible for the other to win. Brawn believes that the current points situation, together with the major upgrades expected
ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix in two weeks time have left his team favourites to take the crown.
"You can never say it is crucial because there are still four races - 40 points - for the winner, and a long way to go. But it was a
great result," said Brawn. "I think it was a real, I would not say rejuvenation, but a real boost to the team going into the last
four races. I said the other day, I think the last four races should be split in terms of which ones are suiting us and which suit them (Red
Bull Racing). We have got a big upgrade for Singapore, so we are in as good a position as we had hoped to be at the moment."
Button currently leads the drivers' standings on 80pts, with Barrichello on 66 and Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in
third and fourth respectively on 54 and 51.5. Both Barrichello and Button can arithmetically end Red Bull's title chances in Singapore, but
Brawn believes the duel between them could go down to the wire, and he insists they must be left alone to battle it out without any
interference from the team.
"I think we have to," said Brawn. "Any attempt to control it will end in failure! We said we would not give any preference
until it was mathematically impossible for one to win, and I think this is going to go all the way until the last race."
When Brawn was team boss at Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello was routinely told to allow team mate Michael Schumacher to pass him.
Meanwhile Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz believes it is unlikely that his team will be able to sustain a bid for the title. The
Austrian said that despite still having a chance to win the championship, he fears that engine troubles throughout the season have been
their undoing.
When asked if Monza marked the end of the Renault-powered team's title dreams, Mateschitz said: "In reality, that happened before
already. The reasons for this are that our engines are inferior to some of the competition, and the rules that limit the drivers to eight
engines per season without testing or development. The first thing I expect is a ten places grid penalty because we will need a ninth
engine. You can never exclude being successful and winning again but I doubt whether we can achieve four top results from both our drivers
now."
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