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Valencia presents a unique challenge in itself for the F1 teams. After a prolonged testing ban, the first circuit for them to strut their redeveloped stuff happens to be a street circuit.

Now, a street circuit typically provides congested tracks, risks of barriers, minimal overtaking opportunities and is very heavy on brakes. This year, so far, no team can claim to have mastered the art of balancing their car for street and circuit racing.

To top it, the championship fight is wide open now. Thankfully though! 6 wins in the first 7 races for Button made this year’s championship a bit of a mockery. He was a hands on favorite to win this year’s title. But then came the Red Bulls revival. This not only aroused the Brawns from their blissful slumber but also injected some excitement in an otherwise monopolistic run.

And Hungary demonstrated a McLaren & Ferrari revival. This spells ominous signs for Brawns as their lack of grip and tyre performance has been atrociously shoddy.

9 points for Button and 24 points for Webber from the British, German & Hungarian GPS have thrown the championship fight wide open. Button’s lead the top of the pedestal has eroded to only 18.5 points.

Brawns misery gets compounded with the car’s failure to sufficiently heat its tyres in cooler temperatures, leading to a drastic drop in the car’s pace. Their much touted upgrade – new side pods and wings were expected to life their performances in Hungary. But these only managed to hand Button his worst place this season i.e. 7th.

Button is optimistic but secretive about the developments the team engineers have made on the cars.

He mentioned: "We've made some steps forward since the last race. We've had a look at some of the areas we thought we improved in over the last couple of races, and we looked at the possibility of going back on those changes. We can be strong again - this car is not bad. The changes with the car that we've made, some are definitely positive, some maybe aren't so.”

Button rued his missed chances in the previous 3 races. He admitted that the first priority is to get back on the podium. He said: “after finishing 6th, 5th, and 7th in the last 3 races, we need to get some good results. We can't finish off the podium. Now, I want to win bad.”

Now, this is wishful thinking cause we haven’t really seen the car in practice as the testing ban was in effect. Along with Red Bull’s surge in the recent past, Hamilton’s surprise win & Raikkonen’s opportune 2nd in Hungary is a grim reminder of their glory days and quite possibly a rude awakening.

Button is aware: "It's very competitive. We haven't just got the Red Bulls who are strong; we've got the McLarens, the Ferraris, the Renaults and even the Williams at times. We need to get back on top of it. I've got an 18.5-point lead, but that could disappear very quickly."

Barrichello is meanwhile in his own non-descript fashion eking his way around without much ado. If Button is struggling, then the same task turns gargantuan for Barrichello. His mid-season team orders barrage seems to have subsided and he is not expected to do anything spectacular in Valencia.

If the Brackley boys can conjure up something out of their hat and can make their tyres work optimally, then Button has a realistic chance of winning in Valencia. Otherwise, at this stage, it is difficult to predict who’s gonna reign supreme at Valencia. Either ways, we are in for the magnificent sound of the engines reverberating on the streets of Valencia and a great race.