That’s it then, either Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello is going to win the Formula One world championship this year. Other drivers may still have a mathematical chance of stealing the crown from them, but it ain’t going to happen.
The team’s emphatic one-two in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, coupled with the dismal showing from their nearest rivals – Mark Webber crashed out on the first lap and Sebastian Vettel could only manage a single point – means that the Brawn drivers are well clear at the top of the table and that the team is on target to take the manufacturer’s title as well.
Who will win?
The reason for this is three-fold. First of all, Brawn has a number of upgrades coming for the next race at Singapore in a fortnight and is expected to be a strong challenger in each of the remaining four races of the season. Secondly, its main rival Red Bull has experienced a number of problems with its Renault engines of late and Vettel is likely to have to take a ten place grid penalty for using more than his allocation of engines at some point, thereby compromising his chances. His team-mate Webber is effectively out of it after such a poor race in Italy. And thirdly, McLaren and Ferrari have caught up and are winning again, and even Force India is now a force to be reckoned with, meaning that others are likely to take points away from the two Red Bull drivers anyway.
Force India have been forceful
So that just leaves Button and Barrichello to fight it out. But which one would make the more worthy champion? Button has always been highly regarded, even when he was driving useless cars, which he has for most of his Formula One career. His natural talent and raw speed has never been in question though and this year, with the right equipment at his disposal, he has proved himself.
Barrichello has often had the right equipment, particularly in his Ferrari days, but was not allowed a free reign to challenge for the title while Michael Schumacher was around. He is a very popular figure in the paddock and it is remarkable that he is in the position to win the world championship given that his career looked to be over at the end of last year. Even so, it has taken him a while to capitalise on his chances. It was team-mate Button who dominated the early part of the season and Barrichello looked to be floundering in his wake. But when the Brawn had difficulty generating temperature in its tyres over a number of races mid-season and Button struggled, it was the Brazilian who adapted to the situation better and started scoring more points than the Englishman. Now, with another victory behind him, Barrichello is on a roll and his confidence is up.
After so many times being number 2, can he be number 1?
However, he has a mammoth task ahead of him. Button has won six races to Barrichello’s two and only has to finish behind his team-mate in the remaining four events to still take the title. There is also a question mark over the gearbox in Barrichello’s car which was slightly damaged at Spa but has to last another two races if he is to avoid a five place grid penalty for having to change it.
So you have to say that the momentum is probably still with Button in this most remarkable of seasons. For while it is possible to say that a Brawn driver will almost certainly take the championship this year, it is impossible to predict who might win the remaining races. Years ago, and I do mean years, we used to have seasons like this where anyone of a number of teams or drivers was capable of winning, and indeed did win, races. It’s good to see unpredictability back in the sport.
