Jenson Button loses world champion in the overall standings to fourth place in Singapore on the ground: “But it’s not over yet!”
McLaren is the big loser of the Singapore night. Silver Arrows, the British had to accept a pay freeze Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button made it with the MP4-25 just once in fourth. “It was not a loose race, but I had to do all the time pressure. It’s always sad when you give full throttle all the time and it still not enough for a podium finish,” said the reigning champion.

“At the beginning I have some spared the rear tires because we had noted on Friday that they do not keep so well. That gave me some help. In the final laps of the first stint I was therefore the gap on Lewis, because with him it looked like as if he had had problems with the tires, “said Button, who in the battle for third against Mark Webber had a chance.
“After the safety car period I was on the harder tire had problems with stability on the curves and output. I could not even keep up with the Red Bull, who had 30 laps on the tires on the clock,” reports the British McLaren on the issues. “This shows how fast the were and it shows that it was not an easy race for us.”

“The race was otherwise perfect for me, everything was simply not the pit stop was perfect -.. Probably the best all year, but the balance just does not fit,” said Button. “Our car was not as good here as expected. In qualifying we can get the best, but in the race it was really hard.”
“We hope so on the new parts of Japan. They were supposed to arrive in Singapore to the car, but it happened for reasons of reliability not. In Suzuka, we will hopefully have a competitive car,” says the 30-year-old. Positive the view is now ahead: “Suzuka should suit our car better to eat well for us, Singapore was the most difficult of the routes in the final stage..”

In the overall standings button is now only a fifth, 25 points behind leader Webber. “I’m still in the process,” the British fighting spirit. “Too bad that Mark Webber was able to land before us. But we are at points just from a racing game. It is up to the last race still everything is possible. I wish back the old points system. Then we could better see how close all lie together. ”

“You have to think positive but at this stage of the season,” said Button. “Lewis had today in the duel with Webber pitch. I do not know exactly what happened there. I have only seen that Webber has him forced out clearly. One bad race can be very cost much. My points of today are important, but actually would have to stand on the podium. “

Lewis Hamilton was the big loser as Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya hosted the Spanish grand prix on Sunday.

The McLaren driver was running second behind dominant winner Mark Webber when a tyre failure pitched him into the barrier on the penultimate lap.

It means he is now just seventh in the drivers’ championship, 21 points behind his teammate and title leader Jenson Button, who had a bad race in Spain stuck behind Michael Schumacher.

If Hamilton’s tyre had held on for another two laps, the Briton would now be just three points off the lead.

“It could have been (caused by) debris caught in the rim,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh speculated.

Webber aside, the big winner on Sunday was the local hero Fernando Alonso, who not only benefitted from Hamilton’s failure but also Sebastian Vettel’s brake problem.

Alonso is just 3 points behind championship leader Button, with Vettel and Webber driving a dominant car but just third and fourth respectively in the standings.

“Overall the weekend has been so-so for us but in terms of results it’s fantastic,” said Ferrari’s Alonso.

(GMM)