Jenson Button’s push to prominence at McLaren has been a deliberate attempt to build the famous team around him.
Many commentators viewed the 2009 world champion’s arrival last year to be the highly rated Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate as akin to walking into “the lion’s den”.

But less than two seasons later, Button is poised to beat the beleaguered Hamilton in the drivers’ standings and has signed a new multiple year contract.

The 31-year-old has also driven for Williams, Renault and Honda/Brawn, but it is his tenure at McLaren that is arguably attracting the highest plaudits.

Asked what the secret is, Button revealed: “It’s a lesson I learned many years ago.

“If you look back at F1 there are certain drivers that would always try and build a team around them and it helped them,” he is quoted by The Sun.

“Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost did that, but I suppose Michael Schumacher was the first one of our generation to really do that.

“It was not something I thought about myself when I was younger. But it’s one thing I remember about David Richards when he was team principal at BAR.

“He said ‘Jenson, you have very good speed, but other drivers out there do a much better job of surrounding themselves with the right people and really working at it with the team’. That definitely did stick with me,” he explained.

 Nico Rosberg has overcome a chink in his armour, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn has revealed.
When Brawn GP became Mercedes’ works team ahead of 2010, the former Williams driver was signed to be the returning Michael Schumacher’s teammate.

Nearly two seasons on, despite an improved turn of form by Schumacher in the last three or four races, it is 26-year-old Rosberg who has been the faster.

But team boss Brawn did spot a weakness.

“I have to be honest, when Nico first arrived from Williams there were times when he was not fit enough,” he is quoted by the Telegraph.

Rosberg has since blitzed fellow amateur triathlete Jenson Button’s best time at the multi-sport discipline, and regularly posts Youtube videos proving his high fitness.

“I can’t criticise him at all on that score now,” admitted Brawn. “He goes above and beyond.”

Brawn’s praise comes amid speculation rival teams have expressed interest in Rosberg beyond his 2012 contract, with Mercedes’ Norbert Haug revealing he would like to sign him up for the long term.

Rosberg says he is buoyed by the team’s acquisition of well-known technical directors Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis.

“Mercedes are in the background and they are pushing flat out. Whatever it takes,” he said, admitting it would be special to succeed with what is effectively a German national team.

“The other thing that is special is I know that this team is betting on me; counting on me to deliver once I have the car to do so. And I’m very confident that I will be able to. I just have to be patient,” said Rosberg.

“Michael, of course, isn’t getting any younger. So theoretically it is all set up perfectly for me here.”

Ross Brawn has called upon rival teams to stop asking for “favours” before helping Renault and Team Lotus to change their names for 2012.

Because name changes are generally frowned upon by the sport’s officials, the Renault/Lotus issue has been referred to a meeting of the F1 Commission early next month.

But Mercedes team boss Brawn suggested it is not right that rival teams have a say.

The Briton told reporters that one “unfortunate (thing) about formula one” is that motives are not always pure.

“Unfortunately, if it becomes a trading position – and I guarantee those teams that are trying to change their name will have had approaches from other teams who want different favours paid in order to agree to the name change – that’s not correct,” he said.

As team principal, Brawn negotiated the change of Mercedes’ name from Brawn GP after the German carmaker bought his Brackley based team.

“I know that (teams asking for favours) happened to us when we wanted to change our name,” he revealed. “People sought to get favours from that decision. (But) it needs to be done in an adult way and not used in a divisive way.”

McLaren and FOTA chief Martin Whitmarsh agrees.

“I recall when there was a desire to change the (Brawn) team name to Mercedes, how a number of people conspired against that, which was a ridiculous position to take and very damaging to the sport,” he said.

“As Ross said, if (a team comes) up with a clearly silly, divisive name or a name that’s damaging to formula one, then we should be able to use good judgement to prevent it.

“But if it’s clear that the name change facilitates the funding and the retention of that team, then we shouldn’t use the polemics and politics of formula one to prevent it,” he added.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed that F1 has to be “a little bit careful” when agreeing to team name changes because the sport needs to be able to consistently market its brands.

But on the other hand, “it doesn’t make any sense for a team to be called Renault when it isn’t Renault, therefore a name change in a situation like that makes sense”, he said.

Similarly, Whitmarsh agrees that “for there to be two Lotus teams doesn’t seem very sensible”.

A notably downbeat Lewis Hamilton on Saturday broke Red Bull’s grip on pole position in 2011.
“I’m sure this will cheer Lewis up,” his boss Martin Whitmarsh told BBC1 television.

But the 2008 world champion was not celebrating his rare defeat of F1′s new double title winner Sebastian Vettel, even causing the official press conference moderator to ask him: “Are you ok?”

A few minutes earlier, Hamilton had refused to respond to his engineer after being told of his pole, and in parc ferme climbed from his McLaren without a cheer, brushing a cameraman with his shoulder as he trudged past.

The 26-year-old is unquestionably struggling amid his dip of form in 2011, but his teammate Jenson Button noted after qualifying: “Lewis has been pretty great all weekend.”

Perhaps he suspects Red Bull are playing the long game, with Vettel securing a front row position whilst conserving “all our prime (soft) tyres” for a race expected to witness extreme degradation.

“I think we are in a good position. Tyre wear will be crucial,” said the German, who told his engineer he is looking forward to the “better tyres” on Sunday.

Fernando Alonso has played down not only Lewis Hamilton’s recent struggles, but also Sebastian Vettel’s unprecedented success.

“I think Hamilton is not doing so poorly, or that Vettel is going to win seven titles in a row,” the Ferrari driver told EFE news agency in Korea.

Spaniard Alonso, now overtaken by Vettel as F1′s youngest ever double world champion, baulked at claims the Red Bull driver’s success is “not fair”.

“No, no. It’s always fair,” he smiled.

“What happens is that it is always more and more, whether you succeed or fail. When things go well it becomes easier, and when it goes wrong it gets harder.

“This is a sport with a lot of publicity and a race every 15 days,” added Alonso.

“Everyone thought that when I won the two titles I would win a few more in a row but I did not. Then Hamilton came a point within the championship in his first season, he won the second and he looked like he was going to win 10.

“Then it looked like it would be the decade of the Brawn (team) but they won only once, and Red Bull has won two in a row with a phenomenal job but we will see what happens next year,” he said.

 The inter-team agreement to curb costs in formula one is at a crossroads as the latest rumours sweep across the paddock.
First it was Red Bull, but now Mercedes is the subject of the latest speculation about teams breaking the gentleman’s agreement known as the FOTA-sponsored resource restriction agreement (RRA).

The Mercedes rumours have gained strength since Mercedes signed Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa to join Mercedes’ existing technical bosses Ross Brawn and Bob Bell.

“Each of the teams and team principals continue to assure FOTA that they are abiding by the limitations that are contained within the RRA,” formula one teams association chairman Martin Whitmarsh said in Korea on Friday.

Red Bull has made clear it will only agree to a new agreement – one that “doesn’t involve commenting or politicking” – if the other teams don’t power speculation about breaches.

“Red Bull does favour the RRA being around, but in a way that’s clear, tangible, policeable and encompasses all of what formula one is rather than cherry-picking elements of it,” added team boss Christian Horner.

Mercedes figures including Brawn and Norbert Haug have this weekend denied the bolstering Brackley based team is stepping over the line in adhering to the RRA.

“I think for us, we’re respecting the RRA but I think it’s at a crossroads,” said team boss Brawn.

“I think it’s at a crossroads because it’s now starting to bite those three or four teams who have to control their resource to comply.

“The teams have to come together to find a solution … or else we will have a continuation of the problems that we’re having at the moment, all the comments, the rumour, the innuendo, the distrust.”

 Nico Hulkenberg will also sit out the Indian grand prix in two weeks.
In Korea on Friday, with Force India locked in the battle for sixth place in the constructors’ championship with Sauber, the German did not perform his usual Friday morning driving duties.

“It’s a pity, for me,” he said on German television Sky. “Here in South Korea and probably also in India I am not driving.

“For now, the team has only one priority; to secure sixth place,” added Hulkenberg. “So the regular drivers need to be driving as much as possible.

“They need every lap in the car, and I can understand that,” he added.

 Jenson Button has clarified any fears he might be prepared to drive into Sebastian Vettel this weekend in Korea.
Despite Vettel having only just clinched the 2011 title, McLaren’s Button did not hesitate to bring up their Suzuka near-miss immediately after the Japanese race.

German Vettel denied seeing Button on the approach to the first corner, when the McLaren had to put two wheels onto the grass and lift the throttle.

And Briton Button warned with his famous smile: “I might not lift off next time you pull across at the start”.

Asked by reporters in Korea if he was serious, the 31-year-old insisted: “No, but it sounded good on TV.

“You’re still going to be intelligent about the way you go racing and if you know that he’s not going to back out and you’re going to push him on the grass, you’re not going to do it,” Button is quoted by Reuters.

But he did cast doubt on Vettel’s excuse that he didn’t see him in Japan, referring to BBC footage showing the German looking into his mirrors.

Vettel said in Japan: “By the time I saw him, I realised that maybe I was a little bit too far to the right and then he was backing off.

“Obviously no intention to put him in any danger but I think we can run with two wheels on the grass, can’t we Fernando?” he added, referring to his own pass on Fernando Alonso at Monza last month.

Little has changed at Korea’s Yeongam circuit since the calamitous inaugural grand prix a year ago.
Bild newspaper reports the ghastly news that, when some teams opened the fridges in their paddock offices this week, food left over from the 2010 event remained rotting on the shelves.

And Williams revealed that the stickers on the team’s hospitality suite still show Nico Hulkenberg driving for them, while the words ‘Mark Webber’ and ‘Sebastian Vettel’ on the floor of the garage had to be painted over by McLaren.

“It looks as though they locked the gates after the last race and simply unlocked them yesterday,” one source is quoted as saying.

Said Sebastian Vettel, who has won two world championships since last visiting Korea: “It’s funny, thinking about everything that has happened since then.”

Another bone of contention is the circuit’s location in Mokpo, hundreds of kilometres from Seoul and with the drivers all staying in the same five-star Hyundai hotel.

For the less affluent team members and journalists, they are still having to stay in so-called ‘love motels’, while the entire Williams team is staying in Gwangju, an hour from Yeongam.

“Here in the south it’s really a little too quiet,” said Vettel. “I think basically there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left.”

The fact Yeongam still seems barely finished has raised speculation about financial problems for the event.

“It is true that we are struggling in terms of profit because of the high investment and high cost structure,” said chief organiser Park Joon-yung.

With the drivers’ title now in Sebastian Vettel’s hands and Red Bull almost certainly to be the champion team, the issue of motivation is an interesting one in the Yeongam paddock.
Teams are now focused on 2012 and testing new components, but the drivers must still line up on four more grand prix grids.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, 8 points behind runner-up Jenson Button and 8 ahead of Mark Webber, said on Thursday: “I think finishing second, third or fifth in the drivers championship is not a big difference.

“Once you cannot be world champion it is not any more a big interest on that.”

The simple pursuit of victory is therefore the motivation, the Spaniard explained.

“I think we all want to win, in any race we participate in. Even when we do the race of champions in December, for fun, if we finish second it’s a very bad feeling, and a very bad night,” said Alonso.

Vettel – who could go on holiday rather than travel to India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil in the next six weeks and still be champion – added: “I think the moment you come to a race thinking that it doesn’t really matter where you finish it’s the moment when you should probably stay at home.

“We love racing, we will enjoy racing as usual, but we will not be happy leaving this track knowing that we could have done better,” said the German.

And Lewis Hamilton said: “To me, racing is the biggest part of my life apart from my family and it doesn’t matter if it’s a practice race or whatever, it still holds significant value to me.”

Another possible motivation, according to former Ferrari driver and Italian commentator Ivan Capelli, is money.

“It depends on their contracts,” he told AFP France. “Some have incentives for points scored, wins, poles …”

And as for the multi-millionaires like Jenson Button, Alonso and Hamilton, Capelli added: “I think that once they get on the track, they want the prestige.

“It’s like a new championship even after the title, where they can say maybe ‘Well, I finished (the season) scoring more points than Vettel’.”

 Ferrari is testing a new front wing in Korea practice this weekend in line with the aggressive philosophy of its 2012 car.
Italian and Spanish media reports have revealed that Maranello’s next single seater is known internally as ’663′.

Italiaracing reports that the wing tested in Korea on Friday is “inspired by Red Bull’s design”.

Designer Nikolas Tombazis confirmed recently that the front wing “represents a different approach in terms of how it works”.

“We can therefore try and learn as much as possible right away,” he said.

The 2012 car is reportedly very low with a higher driving position and longer wheelbase than the current 150 Italia.

Other Italian sources say that, so focused is the team on 2012, boss Stefano Domenicali and technical head Pat Fry travelled back and forth to Italy between the long-haul Asian races in Japan and Korea.

The 663 reportedly also features Red Bull-style rear suspension, allowing more efficient airflow.

“The Red Bull is not just a diffuser but a very complete car, and I am sure that if the first race (of 2012) would take place now they would still have an advantage.

“Our challenge between now and March is to avoid that,” said Fernando Alonso.

Formula one drivers are worried Korea could this weekend host some of the worst tyre degradation of the season.
“We will definitely stop more than twice (in the race),” McLaren’s Jenson Button is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Pirelli’s decision to bring its softest tyres to Korea, a rarely-used circuit whose surface was visibly dirty on Thursday and then watered by Friday morning’s rain, has raised eyebrows within the paddock.

“It will be interesting to see how they work,” said McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa, who recalled 2010 when even the Bridgestone tyres grained.

Added Button: “Some (drivers) may need to stop five times and then if something goes wrong, your supply of tyres runs out.”

“We will see high levels of tyre degradation,” Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is quoted by La Repubblica. “It will be a tough race with the soft and super soft tyres, not only for us but for everyone.”

Sebastian Vettel said the situation “will be worsened” further with the Friday rain. Rubens Barrichello said F1 learned last year that rain in Korea leads to mud sliding onto the track.

“All the preparation for the race may have to take place on Saturday morning,” predicted McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Rubens Barrichello in Korea sounds desperate to extend his long formula one career into a twentieth consecutive season.
Williams has not yet decided whether to keep the veteran Brazilian alongside Pastor Maldonado in 2012.

“I want to be here next year, whatever it takes for it, and wherever,” the 39-year-old is quoted by the German news agency SID.

“I am talking to the entire paddock.”

He clarified, however, that he is actually seeking only “a competitive car”, hinting that his preferences are Williams or Renault.

“I hope to know from Williams before Brazil,” Barrichello is quoted by Brazil’s Globo Esporte. “The fans need to know as well.

“Williams have said they would like to make a decision before Interlagos and I hope that’s a positive sign,” he added.

As for his other options, the former Ferrari and Honda driver added: “I think there are still two or three opportunities that are very good.

“I will not drive in formula one for anything, just to say ‘I have completed 20 years here, even without a competitive car’. That is not the point.

“The teams that I am talking to have the conditions for a good car.

“If my fate is that I am not involved any more with F1, 19 years would be wonderful and I will see if Disney wants me to drive the cars at Disney world,” Barrichello joked.

 Lewis Hamilton appears to have lost patience with Felipe Massa in Korea, as their spat in the wake of recent collisions rumbled on.
After their latest crash in Japan, the beleaguered McLaren driver changed his tone to an inward-looking conciliatory one, insisting he has high respect for his 2008 championship rival.

Hamilton, 26, even issued apologies in the media, but La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes Massa as saying on Thursday: “He has not apologised to me.”

And as for the claim that the mirrors in F1 are not good enough, Massa is quoted by Autosprint: “I think mine are ok.”

In light of the latest developments, Hamilton kept his cool but indicated it is the Ferrari driver who needs to start looking inwardly now.

“I think I’ve always had respect for Felipe and I still do today regardless of the negative comments that he is coming out with,” he told reporters.

“If he doesn’t want to be a grown-up about it, then that’s fine,” added Hamilton.

He openly admits 2011 has been the worst season in his recent motor racing career, and sounded pessimistic about turning around his form any time soon.

“It will take a lot to finally put aside all the difficulties I’ve had this year,” said Hamilton.

“When things go badly they get worse, just like dominoes. At some stage it will stop and things will get better. I will keep pushing and bouncing back until it happens.”