Jenson Button stays positive

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Jenson Button is convinced he can tame the Red Bulls following a disappointing British Grand Prix.

After winning six of the first seven races this year and opening up a 26-point cushion in the title race, many observers - Niki Lauda amongst them - felt Button had the crown in his pocket and he could switch his Brawn GP to cruise control for the rest of the season.

But in the space of a few dominant days at Silverstone, Sebastian Vettel has suggested it will not all be one-way traffic for Button, offering up hope the battle could yet stretch towards the wire.

Supreme in practice, sensational in qualifying and stunning in a race in which he also set the fastest lap, it was as close to perfect as Vettel will ever experience.

After starting the race 32 points behind Button, the 21-year-old now heads to his own home event in Germany at the Nurburgring in three weeks' time 25 adrift, and with a degree of momentum.

In finishing sixth, Button was naturally unhappy at failing to give a 120,000 sell-out crowd what they had come for, but was far from downbeat.

"I would love to have won the British Grand Prix, but it didn't happen," said Button.

"I would have liked a good result for the crowd, but also a good result for myself and the team.

"In the end, I've come away with three points and lost seven to Vettel, which is not great. It's disappointing.

"But then again I gained 10 points when he put his car in the wall in Monaco, so we could have come away with a worse result.

"Now I go to the Nurburgring positive, thinking we can take the fight to Red Bull.

"I know their package is good, but I'm not upset because I know it will turn around, and hopefully there."

Although it was Button's worst result of the season, it has merely underlined the fact the title scrap cannot be taken for granted.

"I lost three points to Rubens here," said Button of his team-mate Barrichello who finished ahead of the Briton for the first time this year.

"So I've a 23-point lead which is still quite a lot to be fair, and Rubens is driving the same car as me so I can try to keep him in check.

"But Vettel's the one where you don't really know where their (Red Bull) performance is going to be.

"So it's important for us to be fighting for wins. We can't settle for third or fourth place.

"There are challenges, and it shows, because I had a 32-point lead (over Vettel) coming here.

"You can never be comfortable enough to think you can just cruise home.

"They were very quick and I am sure they're going to be competitive at other races, but I just don't think they are going to have the advantage they had at Silverstone."

Button concedes to being enlivened by the fresh fight after having it all his own way for so long.

"It's exciting in a way for me, it's not easy," added the 29-year-old, who on Tuesday heads on holiday to Japan with model girlfriend Jessica Michibata.

"They (Red Bull) beat Rubens by 45 seconds at Silverstone, and me by 50, and there are lots of reasons why we weren't on the pace.

"One of which is that it was absolutely freezing so we couldn't get any heat into the tyres. The sun didn't come out until after the race - thanks British weather!

"They've also made a big improvement with the car. They've a lot of new parts which are obviously working for them.

"The circuit is high speed, probably not to our car's strength, and there is hardly any braking which is our strongest point.

"We're stronger than Red Bull on braking, but you never hit the pedal that hard at Silverstone, which is another reason why we couldn't get the tyre temperature.

"That's why we weren't competitive, so I'm not going away that disappointed."