Championship leader Jenson Button says his Brawn team cannot relax and settle for points finish in the remaining races of the season if he is to beat the Red Bull Racing drivers.
Button is still 25 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the standings going into this weekend's German Grand Prix, but the Red Bull driver was unstoppable at Silverstone two weeks ago.
Button endured his worst race of the season and finished down in sixth position. Although the Briton still has a comfortable lead as the season heads into its halfway point, he is aware that he cannot afford to not fight the Red Bulls.
"You are never comfortable, unless you have enough points that they can't beat you in the championship," Button told reporters in Germany. "So much can happen and as soon as you have one issue, everything else follows. At Silverstone we started sixth on the grid, and was stuck behind Jarno (Trulli) and your race is finished.
"We just have to make sure we don't make any mistakes in qualifying and in the race, and we have to be as close to the Red Bulls as we possibly can. If the Red Bulls beat us in every race, they are going to win the championship easily. We have to fight them, we cannot sit back and relax. It's not comfortable, for sure. I think that's good because of the excitement and the adrenalin.
"After Silverstone, the guys at the factory stepped it up a gear and the parts that were coming in three races' time are now coming in two races. You are never comfortable, but you have to say I'd rather be me in a Brawn than Sebastian or Mark in a Red Bull."
Button said he is more optimistic for the German race than he was at Silverstone, despite the lower than expected temperatures at the Nurburgring. The Brawn car is known for its problems to get harder tire up to the right temperature, but Button feels the super soft rubber to be used this weekend will help his team.
"It's supposed to be about 68 degrees this weekend, but I don't think it's such an issue here, because we have the super-soft tire, which is good," he said. "It's the same tire we used in Bahrain, Monaco and in China, but we obviously didn't get to use it. The super soft works well for us, and even with these temperatures I think we can get it to work well. Maybe other teams will struggle with it."
He added: "I think for everyone the harder tire will be a struggle. It's going to be a bitch to get working. I think the idea of getting the tires closer together is a great idea, because the tires were so far apart that one of the tires never worked during the race weekend. It's a difficult situation, not just for us, but for everyone. Hopefully that won't be the case in the next race in Hungary."
Related story:• Full pre-Germany Q&A with Jenson Button