Pressure is on Brawn boys, says Vettel

The trouble with the world championship fight, somebody mused yesterday, is that there isn't any needle in it. Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel are all fundamentally decent guys who simply get on with each other.

In the absence of the raw animosity of the Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost war at McLaren, each of the contenders has sought stealth and psychological games to boost themselves.

Vettel firmly believes the pressure is on the Brawn drivers, who have it all to lose, and readily admits that his own chances are slim. "The only thing I can do is win, the pressure is on the two in front of me," he said yesterday. "You don't have to be a genius to know that I have to win both races and those two mess them up. As for our last two races, Singapore and Japan... obviously Singapore should have been a bit better but it's in the past now. I hope those three points [that he lost with a drive-through penalty] are not critical in the end. Japan was fantastic for us, the car was great and I am looking forward to these two races."

Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber set the initial pace as expected yesterday, but Button and Barrichello both showed flashes of speed too on a day when lap times traditionally don't mean an awful lot since drivers run their cars in differing configurations while conducting tyre evaluation and assess performance in both short (qualifying) and longer (race) stints. Both teams are keeping wary eyes on those cars that run the soon-to-be-outlawed Kers energy storage systems, notably the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, which benefited from their 80bhp power boost on the long uphill drag from the final corner to the finish line.

Vettel ended the morning session in third, behind Webber and Barrichello with Hamilton fourth and Button seventh, but the Englishman hit his stride in the afternoon when he was fifth-fastest as Fernando Alonso, and Sébastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso, proved quick enough to pose potential threats to the Brawns. Button worked through his scheduled programme of race preparations in the usual manner.

"We aren't changing anything in our approach and it's been a good day," he said. "And the indications are that the car really suits this track. We've made a few changes that have worked well. It's been a good start to the weekend thus far."

"This circuit suits us," Vettel said. "It still has a lot of corners where you need the downforce and it seems that is our strength."

The German, however, is concerned about his engine situation. He has used the eight engines he is permitted under the rules, and had hoped to conserve mileage yesterday if it was wet, but the track was mainly dry apart from light drizzle at times. Button, Barrichello and Hamilton have each only used seven engines, and thus did not need to restrict their mileage.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has finally paid his respects to his hero Ayrton Senna. The reigning world champion grew up idolising Senna, and like many, was distraught when the three-times world champion was killed in an accident at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in May 1994.

For the past two years Hamilton had hoped to visit Senna's grave at Morumbi cemetery in Sao Paulo, just a few miles from the Interlagos circuit that stages the Brazilian Grand Prix. However, as the 24-year-old was embroiled in a world title fight which went down to the wire in 2007 and 2008, he was unable to find the time given the circumstances and his commitments. "It's an awesome place, very simple, just a plaque. For me it was special," reflected Hamilton, who is a Catholic. "It was only a matter of time before I did it."