Button wants urgent Brawn improvement

(GETTY IMAGES)

Jenson Button is at a loss to understand why his season has fallen apart so dramatically over the past few weeks.

Button appeared unstoppable after winning six of the opening seven races in a seemingly bulletproof Brawn GP car.

But then came cool, damp conditions in the British and German races that worked against Button's car as he was unable to get heat into the tyres.

The 29-year-old was expecting Budapest to work to his advantage, yet although the sun shone throughout Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, it apparently was not hot enough.

Over the course of those three races, Button has seen his championship lead cut to 18.5 points over Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber.

Far from making the weather an excuse any more, Button knows his team have to quickly find the answer to their fading form that may yet cost them the Formula One world title.

"We keep complaining and saying it's the weather's fault, and basically it is," assessed Button.

"The problem is we've built a car that looks after its tyres when it's in the right temperature range, but as soon as it drops out of that, we've a problem.

"So we can't really blame the weather. It's our fault for building the car the way it is.

"We just have to work out what we can do to make it work in conditions that don't suit our car so much.

"At the moment the car doesn't feel like it did in Monaco or Turkey, so we need to look at many things.

"People have got quicker but, forgetting them, our car does not feel the same as it did three races ago."

Sunday's seventh place in Budapest came as what Button described as "a real disappointment".

Unless Brawn can quickly discover the root of their problems, the 29-year-old fears the title will slip through his fingers.

It prompted Button to draw comparisons between himself and a cyclist leading the Tour de France, but who is unable to climb.

"I feel like I'm wearing the yellow jersey knowing that when I get to the mountains I'm going to be useless and overtaken," remarked Button.

"I've lost 15 points to Webber over the last three races, which is massive - five points per race.

"He'll be in front of me in four races time, and there are seven races left, so it's not a comfortable lead, but I can't do anything about it.

"We're leading the championship, but it is inevitable they are going to overtake us if the performances keep going like they are. We've got to sort it out."

Ross Brawn has vowed his team will do everything possible to cure their ills ahead of the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23.

However, Brawn last night shut down for the enforced two-week break designed to assist this year's cost-cutting measures.

Despite that, team principal Brawn said: "Hungary proved to be a very challenging weekend for the team, which left us with a number of questions to answer regarding the performance of the car.

"We have four weeks until the next race and, after our factory shutdown, we will be working extremely hard to identify the cause of our recent issues and make the improvements required to return to our early season form."