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Early championship lead isn't everything - Button

Jenson Button has no qualms about losing his early championship to the Red Bull drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Button dropped out of the race after just three laps because a bung was left in the left sidepod of his McLaren as he drove to the grid, preventing fresh air getting to its radiators. As a result he lost his lead in the drivers' standings and dropped eight points behind the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

When asked by his official website if losing his early championship lead was a big blow, he said: "At the moment, no. We all know this is a long season - 19 races - and it's still too early to be worrying about leading the championship. Don't get me wrong, it's nice, but it's not important until the end of the season. But I think it shows what can happen when you potentially lose a chunk of points by not finishing, or by not finishing in those big points-scoring positions.

"It actually feels like a bigger blow than it actually is, because you see somebody pull away by 18 or 25 points, which is a very big margin. I don't think anyone's really thought about the fact that this year's world champion is probably going to score hundreds of points, which does put it in perspective a bit more, because we're used to the top drivers scoring 90 or 100 points in order to win the world championship."

With each driver having to make eight engines last the entire season, Button's failure at Monaco could have had wider repercussions. But he insisted the damage to the Mercedes V8 was minimal.

"It should be fine," he said. "I turned it off pretty quickly, so I don't think it'll be an issue."

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