As Red Bull fades, Barrichello is Button's only hurdle

With just four races to go in this year's Formula One season, the battle for the drivers' title now looks like a straight fight between Jenson Button and Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello.

The Brazilian led home a Brawn one-two at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday to cut Button's lead by two points to 14 while Red Bull now appears out of the running after Mark Webber failed to finish and Sebastian Vettel could only manage eighth spot.

Button leads the standings with 80 points from Barrichello on 66, while Vettel is a distant third on 54 with just 40 points left up for grabs from the final races in Singapore, Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"Barrichello and Button extend Brawn supremacy," was how British daily The Independent on Monday described the result at Monza, adding that the dominant win constituted a "significant step closer to winning both world championship titles for Brawn." Indeed, Brawn also holds a healthy lead of 40.5 points over Red Bull in the constructors' championship, allowing team principal Ross Brawn to feel relaxed about the proposition of his two drivers fighting against each other as the season reaches its climax.

"We will just leave them to it," he said. "You have just got to make sure the atmosphere is calm, consistent and open and that there are no distractions." 

Meanwhile, Button says he is happy to have Barrichello as his main rival for the drivers' championship.

"That's good, because we get on great. But we are both super-competitive and want to win, so we will race now until the end of the season," said the Briton. "Concentrating on just one person has to be a little bit easier." 

Kimi Räikkönen's fourth podium finish in a row, which came by courtesy of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton crashing out on the final lap while chasing Button hard, was warmly welcomed in Italy although there was a cooler response to Giancarlo Fisichella's debut for Ferrari.

"Kimi once again on the podium," wrote La Repubblica. "Who wants to get rid of him now?" 

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told the official Formula One web site that he was delighted with Räikkönen's renaissance after a poor start to the season but refused to comment on the Finn's future and rumours that he is to be replaced at the end of the year.

"I am definitely not going to discuss that now. As everybody is aware, Kimi has a contract with us next year and I am very happy with his performance because he is driving very, very well, especially in the second part of the season," said Domenicali. "I hope to see him on the podium also in the last four races, and I know that he can do it." 

In contrast, the attitude to Fisichella's ninth-place finish was mixed with Tuttosport describing his first outing in a Ferrari as "not much" while La Gazzetta di Modena stated that "more wasn't possible" for the Italian.

Domenicali, meanwhile, was more supportive of his new driver.

"I think that Giancarlo performed well. He had a difficult Saturday and Sunday it was important for him to finish the race," he said. "Once he's got used to the car I expect him do better at the next race. Our car is not so easy to handle and I am sure that from Singapore on he will be able to fight for points."

There was a debut at Monza too for another Italian driver and this was much more impressive. Vitantonio Liuzzi replaced Fisichella at Force India and despite not having raced in Formula One for the last two years, he was holding an eye-opening fourth place when a drive shaft failed and put him out of the race.

However both Fisichella and Liuzzi were head and shoulders above Luca Badoer who raced for Ferrari at Valencia and Spa in August, finishing last in both races and giving the team its worst results in history.