JENSON BUTTON was handed a stark warning on and off track as his British Grand Prix that began with hope ended in disappointment in front of his home fans.
After dominating the first seven races of the season in which he won six, the Brawn GP driver was given a dose of his own medicine in front of a 120,000 sell-out Silverstone crowd.
The 29-year-old started sixth and trailed home sixth at the end o
f 60 punishing laps from championship rival Sebastian Vettel, who was in a league of his own.
Red Bull's Vettel cruised to the third win of his career, second of the year and first in the dry after previously taking the chequered flag in Italy last season and China this. The 21-year-old underlined his dominance by claiming pole position, the race victory and fastest lap.
Button has always known the day would arrive when he would be left trailing, but the fact it came on home soil was the galling part. The hope now is that yesterday's performance was a one-off, and not a turning point in a season in which he has long been on course for the title.
"Hopefully this will be the worst race of the year," said Button, not aided by the cool British weather that ensured he was unable to get heat into his tyres.
"After struggling so hard to get three points, in a way this might be an important three points."
But there is every chance this will not be a rare day as far as Red Bull are concerned, with team principal Christian Horner believing that, if they can rule so easily at Silverstone, they can rule anywhere.
"We expected the Brawn to be formidable in the last sector," said Horner. "But we managed to appear triple top all weekend in some of the sector times, in particular sector three which is a short, slow speed change of direction, and on slow corners.
"That's very encouraging for the rest of the championship. A car that works well here and is quick in all three sectors should theoretically be quick at all the remaining circuits we go to.
"Jenson has had a tremendous run and they've got a formidable lead in both championships, but if we can keep taking points off them we can catch them."
Button finished 46 seconds down on Vettel, who left team-mate and runner-up Mark Webber trailing by 15 seconds, and Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello by 41 seconds.
It was a triumph Vettel described as "a dream" and now he is intent on pushing Button all the way to the wire for the title.
"Jenson has been very strong in all eight races we've had so far and he totally deserves to be in his position," said Vettel, who trails Button by 25 points with Barrichello 23 down.
"Looking at the championship he obviously has quite a comfortable lead, but we're doing our best. The team is very determined and we know where we want to be – we want to win. That's the only way to turn it around.
"It won't be easy, but we are totally up for the fight. The season is still very long and anything can happen."
Button did manage a charge in the closing laps, but not enough to pass fourth-placed Felipe Massa in his Ferrari and Williams' Nico Rosberg. As for world champion and last year's winner Lewis Hamilton, 16th place was all he could manage on another day of struggle with his McLaren.
The full article contains 606 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
