As if it is not hard enough clinching a first Formula One championship, Jenson Button keeps hearing that he must win it in style after a run of mediocre results. The suggestion is liable to irritate even sport’s most equable individual.

At Interlagos tomorrow, Button can seal his place in history by finishing in the first three but form suggests that, to clinch the crown, he is likely to be dependent on where Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel end up. Or on going to the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Should crawling to the line with one podium finish in the second half of the season temper respect for Button or his achievement? It is perhaps the one subject liable to make the Brawn GP driver ever so slightly irritated.

“I read a lot of articles after Turkey [where he won for the sixth time in the first seven races] saying, ‘This is boring, he’s walking it, he’s got a superior car so it doesn’t matter, it’s not really a championship,’ ” he said. “And now it is a championship race, people say, ‘You are limping home.’ So you can’t win.”

He is dependent on a Brawn car that was clearly superior in the early part of the season, but has brought him only one podium finish in the past eight races.

There is also a feeling in the paddock that Button has tightened up, becoming over-cautious. He was asked yesterday if he needed to “drive like a champion” to prove that he is a worthy successor to Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who are widely regarded as the best two drivers on the grid.

“Driving like a champion in this race would be to finish within a certain amount of points of my two title rivals,” he said. “That’s what driving like a champion is. It’s about the numbers, about getting more points than anyone else over 17 races. I won more races at the start of the season than the end, and I would have loved to have won more races, but I won’t look back and think, ‘I wish I hadn’t finished fifth or sixth in that race.’

“People have won championships in the past by winning one race [Keke Rosberg in 1982]. That’s what a world champion is; you make the best out of what you have and that’s exactly what I’ve done this year. You can say people have done a better job but no one has caught me up.

“Speak to any of the champions of the past. It’s never a walk in the park unless you have a much superior car. In 2004 the Ferrari was, but that’s it in recent years. And I have won more races than anyone this year.”

Button will have to contend with a raucous home crowd. Last year, hoping to help Felipe Massa, a local TV comedian presented Hamilton with a black cat for bad luck. This year, to assist second-placed Barrichello, a stunt was engineered in which Button walked under a ladder.

The weather is also likely to play a part, with some rain falling during yesterday’s practice sessions and more expected over the weekend. Button says that he is trying not to think beyond setting a good pace in today’s qualifying.

“I’m trying not to do the maths [about the championship],” he said. “I’m not thinking about how many points I need to get or how many I can afford to finish behind my rivals. It’s about me relaxing, enjoying the race and not doing anything too stupid. The other two have to be aggressive.”

Button prepared for the race with a few days in Hawaii, where he watched the Ironman triathlon World Championship. “It was emotional, inspirational to watch the pain people will put themselves through to reach their goals,” he said.

Should he achieve his own ambitions here or in Abu Dhabi on November 1, there will be no bonus from Brawn on top of his £3 million salary, although Button, in his tenth season in Formula One, may try to negotiate a pay rise given that he earns a fifth of the sum that Hamilton receives.

Grid references

Jenson Button will claim the drivers’ championship with a race to spare if . . .

• He finishes third or higher.

• He finishes fourth or fifth and Rubens Barrichello does not win Sebastian Vettel finishes lower than second and Barrichello finishes lower than fourth Button is guaranteed the title if he is tied for the lead after the final race in Abu Dhabi because his six race victories cannot be equalled

Standings

Button 85pts
Barrichello 71
Vettel 69