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HORNER GUARDED OVER BRAWN TROUBLES
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is refusing to read too much into the practice woes of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.
The Brawn GP duo finished a lowly 17th and 18th after Friday's two 90-minute sessions ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of which was blighted by rain at the Spa circuit.
Championship leader Button later bemoaned his car's lack of one-lap pace that could compromise his qualifying performance unless his team have resolved the problem overnight.
At this stage, Red Bull Racing duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel appear poised to close the 20.5 and 25-point gap respectively to Button.
Horner, asked if the Brawns were sandbagging, replied: "It's a lot if they were.
"I think everybody goes about their own business on a Friday, and they were obviously looking at different wings and so on, as I think all teams were up and down the pit lane.
"So you can't read too much into things. They tend to obviously run quite a bit of fuel, and so it will be interesting to see where the performance is today and tomorrow.
"We're quite happy with the preparation we've had and there are a few other cars in the mix as well this weekend.
"Lewis (Hamilton), if you look through the session, looks quick again, as does Heikki (Kovalainen) and Kimi (Raikkonen), so it's going to be an interesting weekend."
Hamilton was quickest on Friday in his McLaren, only 0.016 seconds ahead of Timo Glock in his Toyota, and 0.084secs clear of Raikkonen, with Webber fourth and Vettel 10th.
Button and Barrichello were both just under a second down, and their struggles were not due to any tyre temperature concerns, which have plagued them of late.
Button, who holds an 18-point cushion over Barrichello with six races remaining, appeared concerned following practice.
"I'm not 100 per cent happy with the car at the moment," reflected the 29-year-old.
"We definitely don't have a tyre temperature issue here. The tyres are working. They're very hot.
"I'm sure it's down to some of the things we've done to the car to help with that, but also the asphalt is quite abrasive.
"In fact, a lot of people are struggling in their long runs with overheating, so that is something to watch out for here.
"Overall our long-run pace is reasonably competitive, but we still have to work on our qualifying pace because we're not that strong over one lap.
"We're not on the pace of the Red Bulls and some of the other teams over one lap, whilst the balance of the car is also not great, so there is still a lot of work to do before we are competitive."
Appreciating the Red Bull duo are likely to be ahead of him, Button added: "This is the perfect circuit for a Red Bull car.
"So we have to hope we can be as close as possible and nibble some more points off them.
"Obviously, this circuit is fun to drive. I just have to hope our car is this weekend because the circuit is not the best for it, but we'll do the best job with what we have."
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is refusing to read too much into the practice woes of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.
The Brawn GP duo finished a lowly 17th and 18th after Friday's two 90-minute sessions ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of which was blighted by rain at the Spa circuit.
Championship leader Button later bemoaned his car's lack of one-lap pace that could compromise his qualifying performance unless his team have resolved the problem overnight.
At this stage, Red Bull Racing duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel appear poised to close the 20.5 and 25-point gap respectively to Button.
Horner, asked if the Brawns were sandbagging, replied: "It's a lot if they were.
"I think everybody goes about their own business on a Friday, and they were obviously looking at different wings and so on, as I think all teams were up and down the pit lane.
"So you can't read too much into things. They tend to obviously run quite a bit of fuel, and so it will be interesting to see where the performance is today and tomorrow.
"We're quite happy with the preparation we've had and there are a few other cars in the mix as well this weekend.
"Lewis (Hamilton), if you look through the session, looks quick again, as does Heikki (Kovalainen) and Kimi (Raikkonen), so it's going to be an interesting weekend."
Hamilton was quickest on Friday in his McLaren, only 0.016 seconds ahead of Timo Glock in his Toyota, and 0.084secs clear of Raikkonen, with Webber fourth and Vettel 10th.
Button and Barrichello were both just under a second down, and their struggles were not due to any tyre temperature concerns, which have plagued them of late.
Button, who holds an 18-point cushion over Barrichello with six races remaining, appeared concerned following practice.
"I'm not 100 per cent happy with the car at the moment," reflected the 29-year-old.
"We definitely don't have a tyre temperature issue here. The tyres are working. They're very hot.
"I'm sure it's down to some of the things we've done to the car to help with that, but also the asphalt is quite abrasive.
"In fact, a lot of people are struggling in their long runs with overheating, so that is something to watch out for here.
"Overall our long-run pace is reasonably competitive, but we still have to work on our qualifying pace because we're not that strong over one lap.
"We're not on the pace of the Red Bulls and some of the other teams over one lap, whilst the balance of the car is also not great, so there is still a lot of work to do before we are competitive."
Appreciating the Red Bull duo are likely to be ahead of him, Button added: "This is the perfect circuit for a Red Bull car.
"So we have to hope we can be as close as possible and nibble some more points off them.
"Obviously, this circuit is fun to drive. I just have to hope our car is this weekend because the circuit is not the best for it, but we'll do the best job with what we have."