Jenson Button has said that he feels no extra pressure ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix despite knowing he has a perfect chance to clinch the drivers' title.
The 29-year-old Englishman needs only to finish third or better in Sunday's race to end his duel with Brawn GP team-mate and home-town hero Rubens Barrichello and extinguish the hopes of German outsider Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.
Button said: ‘It is an exciting situation to be in, but I am the one with the lead. We are all fighting for something that is far greater than we have achieved in the past.
‘But I woke up with a smile on my face and I don't think it adds to the pressure, knowing that you could win the world championship. It adds to the excitement for sure. I am positive.’
Button leads the title race with 85 points ahead of Barrichello on 71 and Vettel on 69, with two races remaining.
He said he believes all three of them face similar pressures this weekend.
‘Sebastian saying the pressure is on us is not quite the case, it is the same for all of us,’ said Button.
‘We are all fighting for the championship, it is the first time for me, Sebastian and maybe Rubens.’
After six wins in seven races, Button has been unable to win again in the last eight races, but he said he is optimistic that this weekend will be different.
‘We have a few changes that should help us around a circuit like this. It should be a good step forward,’ he said.
‘The last race was obviously difficult because of the starting position and the mistake on Saturday with the yellow flags.
'The pace has been good, but it is always difficult when you start far back, it is difficult to overtake these days in F1, every opportunity I have had to make a move I've made, but starting where I did was difficult to pick up good points.
‘Now, coming into the last two races, I am confident. I have a good feeling with the car and the upgrades should help us quite a bit. So I am optimistic that I have the resources to do well here and to score a good result.’
He brushed off suggestions that he had not been trying hard to win races after building up a big lead in the championship.
He said: ‘I haven't purposely gone out to finish in the points and not win races.
‘I go out to try and win every race I compete in and I have led the championship all the way through the season.
‘It is a different situation for the people who are chasing, for sure. They need to be more aggressive than I am, for sure.
‘I don't just want to finish in the points. No, that has never been my objective, but there are situations you don't want to put yourself into. I think I've had a reasonably good balance.’
Button's Brawn team need only one point, or even half a point, to win the constructors' title this weekend.
Button said it would be a dream if the former Honda outfit lifted the teams' title this year.
‘It is an amazing story and it is a Hollywood movie, if it happens,’ he said.
‘It is not certain yet. I think the team has been through a lot this year.
'It was a difficult situation over the winter, a lot of them found it tough, but in the end we got the deal done and were able to come racing.
‘If we come away with the constructors' (title) in the first season of Brawn GP, it will be a very emotional moment for everyone, as it was in Australia when we finished one-two.
‘That was the first time I've seen Ross speechless and if it happens here or Abu Dhabi it will be the same. For Ross to win the title, with his own team, is a greater achievement that all we have done in the past.’
