Formula One / Editor / 28 July 2009 /

After setting a scorching pace at the start of the season Brawn have suddenly hit technical problems. And the trouble for Button et al couldn't have come at a worse time, as F1 shuts down for a month...

For Jenson Button, it must be rich irony hearing Lewis Hamilton hand out so much praise to his team at McLaren's HQ in Woking.

Hamilton has rightly been giving all the credit for his first win of the season to the boys and girls on the factory floor who have worked overtime to bring his car up to date. After starting the season with the Formula One equivalent of a clapped out Ford Escort, he's now got all the gadgets - especially KERBS - to be able to compete at the front of the grid again.

All that work behind the scenes should have been an example to Brawn's backroom people for what they need to do now. After setting a scorching pace at the start of the season they've suddenly hit technical problems. The moment the weather goes either too hot, or too cold, their tyres won't grip the road properly. And as Button admits in today's papers: "If we don't do something we're just a sitting duck waiting for them to catch us. It's like wearing the yellow jersey knowing that when you get to the mountains you're going to be useless and overtaken".

So the team of engineers back at Brackley, led by Sporting Director Ron Meadows, know what they've got to do. Put in extra work to solve the technical problems and get the car back on track for the last part of the season to defend their 18.5 point lead. No problem? Get in the overtime just like McLaren did?

Ah, there's the rub. Formula One is now shut down for a month before the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23, and the factory staff are all off on their holidays. Even if they wanted to cancel their couple of weeks on the beach they're not allowed to. In fact if they so much as open a laptop to study the race data while they're sitting in a deckchair licking an ice cream they would be breaking the sport's new rules.

It brings a big test of the team spirit at Brackley, and the signs are not promising. Button himself was notorious for grumbling about his car when it was carrying Honda's logo and was far from competitive. Now he is moaning again.

"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," he says. "It's our fault for building the car the way it is, and we have to work out what we can do to make it work in conditions that don't suit the car so much. We are leading the championship but it is inevitable they will overtake us if performances keep going like they are."

Button is still [2.3] favourite to win the world championship, and the circumstances he's just set out make that worth laying. Does he have the strength of character, and the real top driving ability, to hang on to his lead and drag every last ounce of performance out of his machine? Hamilton has proved he can get points in a slow car, Button has yet to answer that question.

Five things you might not know about Ron Meadows

1. Born in Liverpool in 1973, his parents lived near Oulton Park and he used to sneak through a hole in the fence to watch the racing

2. He left school at 16 to start work as a mechanic for TWR, and within two years he'd been made Chief Mechanic for the company's French Touring Car team

3. He was in charge of designing and equipping the buildings when BAR was first set up in its base at Brackley, which is now the home of Brawn

4. He's married with four children - son Michael has raced in Formula Three

5. He loves dining out and fancies himself as a restaurant critic - but goes swimming to keep the weight down!

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