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Formula One
F1:  Button Braked Early For Vettel - Horner
Christian Horner blames early braking for crash in the Belgian Grand Prix...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted August 29, 2010   Francorchamps (BEL)
Sebastian Vettel (Right) gets out of shape during an attempt to pass Jenson Button (Left) in the Belgian GP. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Christian Horner says that Sebastian Vettel's controversial clash with Jenson Button at Spa was triggered when the McLaren driver braked earlier than Seb had expected for the chicane.

Vettel, who wasn’t actually trying to pass, lost control and slammed into the side of the McLaren. The damage put Button out of the race, while the FIA later handed Vettel a drive through penalty for causing an avoidable collision.

“Jenson’s in a difficult position at the head of the queue, knowing where to judge his braking point,” said Horner. “Obviously he braked what looked like earlier than Sebastian suspected, and in taking avoiding action he got the rears locked up over the bump, and it put him into a spin. He didn’t intentionally hit Jenson, it was one of those things.

“He was eager to get past Jenson because he was holding him up a lot and he could see that Lewis was getting away. The rain had just started, and I think the braking point that Jenson adopted, as it had just started to rain, took him by surprise. It’s as simple as that.”

Horner says that despite the disappointment over Vettel, the team was happy to have taken a second place with Mark Webber.

“We know this circuit and Monza will be McLaren territory, we just have to limit the damage, as we managed to do with Mark today, and actually as a team to come away with a second place is still a very good result for us.

“Monza for sure will be a tough weekend for us, but we performed better than expected in Montreal and Valencia this year. And if you compare the tracks that McLaren have performed badly at, for example Hungary, where Mark lapped Jenson, at a track that doesn’t suit us, we’ve still managed to get a second place out of it.

“I think Monza will be our weakest circuit of the year arguably, so a bit of rain there might be nice. And then we come back to circuits that will much more suit our car.”
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Horner expects Lewis Hamilton to be RBR’s biggest rival as the season progresses: “I think Hamilton is a great driver, and he’s driven very well this year. He will be a big threat all the way to the end of this championship.
“Lewis was the luckiest man in Belgium today to go in and out of the gravel trap and avoid the barrier!”

Meanwhile he says it’s too early to start thinking about backing Mark Webber over Vettel in the title battle. The pair are now 28 points apart.

“There are still 150 points available. With 25 for a win, if Lewis and Mark didn’t finish at the next race, and Sebastian or Fernando or even Jenson won it, then they’d be right back in it, so it’s too early to be saying any one of those five drivers is out of the championship.”

LINK > RACE RESULTS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
LINK > POINTS STANDINGS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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