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We can beat Red Bull, says Button after Hungary win
McLaren driver triumphs in the rain, but is it too late McLaren to challenge Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel?
The Formula One drivers' championship is still up for grabs according to a jubilant Jenson Button, who navigated the torrential rain to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was second, followed by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
In a race determined by tyre choice, it was Button's decision to be fitted with prime tyres in his third pit stop, unlike Hamilton and Alonso, who plumped for soft ones, which gave him the advantage. As the rain fell soon after, Hamilton was forced to return to the pits, handing his McLaren team mate a lead that would see him finish top of the podium.
"I'm always lucky with these conditions," Button said, referring to his first ever GP win at the same track in similar circumstances in 2006. "You are not always going to make the right call in these conditions but I feel I'm pretty good at making the right call when it comes to tyre choices."
However, the 31-year-old was quick to dismiss the weather as the only reason for his victory. "The reason why we won today was because we were quick," he said. "If it didn't rain it wouldn't have made any difference."
Recent races certainly suggest that McLaren and Ferrari have caught up with Red Bull, whose cars dominated the beginning of the season, with Button's victory following Hamilton's triumph in Germany a week earlier.
Sebastian Vettel, who won six of the season's first eight races, recovered after early errors to finish second at the Hungaroring. His aura of invincibility has certainly faded – he has failed to win any of the last three races – but as the drivers head off for their summer break the German still has an 83-point lead on his nearest rival, Mark Webber.
That doesn't faze Button, however: "You never know. If he [Vettel] has a crash, loses 25 points and our pace is as it is now, it is going to be a phenomenal end to the season... As a team we are making the right calls and we are up there with them. In qualification they still have the edge but in the race we can have them." ·
