Jenson Button isn’t worried about loosing his early lead in the drivers championship after a mistake in Monaco saw the Brit retire on the second lap after a bung was left in his sidepod.
Mark Webber went on to take victory, moving into the top spot on the table alongside his team mate. Button dropped to fourth, however he remains just eight points off the lead.
“We all know this is a long season, – 19 races – and it’s still too early to be worrying about leading the championship,” he told his official website. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but it’s not important until the end of the season.
“But I think it shows what can happen when you potentially lose a chunk of points by not finishing, or by not finishing in those big points-scoring positions.”
The new points system, which now awards 25 points for a win compared to the previous ten, means larger gaps aren’t such a problem, something Button is fully aware of.
“It actually feels like a bigger blow than it actually is, because you see somebody pull away by 18 or 25 points, which is a very big margin.
“I don’t think anyone’s really thought about the fact that this year’s world champion is probably going to score hundreds of points, which does put it in perspective a bit more, because we’re used to the top drivers scoring 90 or 100 points in order to win the world championship.”
Like team mate Lewis Hamilton, Button is looking forward to the quicker tracks on the calendar, like Turkey and Canada, where McLaren are confident of catching Red Bull.
“I’ve spoken with the team and we’re pretty confident that we’ll be quite a bit more competitive in Istanbul,” he added.
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