Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello says that he is still feeling good about his championship chances, despite finishing behind his rival Jenson Button in the Singapore Grand Prix to end the day 15 points behind his team mate in the standings.
Barrichello began the Singapore race in 9th on the grid compared to Button's 11th spot, but ended up finishing one place behind him in 6th position after a botched pit stop wrecked his chances of a higher finish. That allowed the Brit to extend his lead in the championship, albeit only by a single point, to 15 with just 30 left to play for.
But although Button could now theoretically clinch the title next weekend in Japan, the Brazilian remains in an optimistic mood.
"It was a pretty eventful weekend for me and a tough race today," Barrichello sighed after the race, "I had a great start to make up two places and everything was going well in the first stint. It's a shame that the safety car didn't play into my hands but I was in a good position.
"Unfortunately I had a problem on my second pitstop when I couldn't engage neutral and the engine stalled which lost me the crucial time needed to stay ahead of Jenson. After that my brakes were struggling and I couldn't fight anymore so we came home with sixth position."
But he added that: "It could have been a better weekend but I only lost a point to Jenson in the championship despite everything that happened so I'm staying positive."
Meanwhile, across the Brawn garage, Button was happy with his own performance, soundbiting that: "It was a good race for me and I'm happy with fifth position and four more points today."
Asked about whether he was upset that Bernie Ecclestone's controversial "medal system" method for deciding the title had not been introduced this season, a method which would have seen him in the title in Singapore, he insisted that he was glad the title was still decided on points.
"The 'winner takes all' system was an unusual idea but F1 is always the way it has been now with points," he affirmed to Autosport, "So that is the world championship, and that is what I want to win."
Under the proposed system whereby the drivers were ranked by race wins rather than points, Button would now be 4 wins ahead of his nearest challengers, with only three races still to go.
Finally, the sole remaining title contender, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who is now 25 points behind Button's total, insisted that he would fight hard for the championship while he still retained a mathematical chance of the title.
"Regarding the Championship, I think history has shown many different examples of how it can finish over the years, with it going either way." Vettel insisted, "At the next races our approach will be simple: we will try to get pole position and try to win, so it's very straightforward."
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