Brawn not taking anything for granted

source : www.autosport.com
By Jonathan Noble and Mark Glendenning

Brawn may now be clear favourites for the world championship, but team principal Ross Brawn is adamant his team cannot afford to start thinking the title is in the bag just yet.

Although Jenson Button now has a 26-point advantage at the head of the championship standings after winning six of the first seven races of the season, Brawn's near misses with Ferrari in the past have left him paranoid that things can still go wrong.

When asked in the wake of Button's Turkey triumph if it was hard not to start thinking about the championship, Brawn said: "It's not difficult not to start thinking about it."

He added: "You never do. You never engage in those thoughts, because you know that just around the corner something can happen. It can be a retirement, or it can be some other factor.

"And having had three seasons at Ferrari where we didn't do it, and we got very close to doing it, then I know you simply don't engage in those thoughts until they're done."

Brawn has also vowed to maintain a hands-off approach to handling the battle between his drivers - claiming it could lead to a more satisfactory title than when he operated a clear number one policy with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari.

"I've been lucky enough to win world championships now, and perhaps winning it in a certain way is more important to me," he said.

"I think there's phases. I think there's phases early in the season where you can't identify one driver one way or the other, and I think you should let the season run.

"Undoubtedly you may reach a phase towards the end where you have to make decisions, and we'll make those decisions if we have to. But at this stage there's no need and no wish to make those decisions."

When asked what advice he would give Button now he said: "The advice, quite honestly, is to just keep doing what you're doing. One of the guys asked me on Sunday what they should do in the first corner, and I said that as soon as we get that into their thoughts, we have a problem. So all you can do is leave them.

"If they've made mistakes, you sit down and work out what you need to do. But otherwise you just leave them alone. He's driving so well that there's nothing I can add to his performance."