F1: Button cannot slow down

Despite a commanding lead in the points, Jenson Button says he cannot afford to ease off, according to Autosports.com.

Our View: Momentum can be gained and lost in an instant. In the British Grand Prix, Button was caught in traffic and could never find the front of the field. Still, Formula 1 is much more prone to streaks—especially in terms of podium finishes—than any other series.

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Week 26 Unified Power Rankings

For only the second time this year, there was chink in Jenson Button's armor, and unlike the Chinese Grand Prix where he still finished third, he struggled in last week's British Grand Prix. Finishing sixth still earned points in what remains a nearly insurmountable lead for the World Drivers Championship, but it opens the door for some alternate fantasy picks in coming weeks. If Red Bull Racing continues their assault, the game just got more interesting.

Tony Stewart remains the hottest NASCAR driver. Since the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, he's finished outside the top 10 only twice and both require an asterisk. One poor finish came as the result of crash damage at Talladega SuperSpeedway—in a race that is more lottery than contest—and the other came in the rain-altered Coke 341 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Otherwise, he's been as close to perfect as fantasy owners could want with seven top-fives in the other eight races.

In the Indy Racing League, Ryan Briscoe leapfrogged Helio Castroneves with a second-place finish versus seventh. Castroneves struggling came as little surprise since he has finished outside the top 10 in two of his last three races on IRL short tracks, (see Short Trackin' Indy Style), but Briscoe also had a spotty record on this track type last year. As the old adage goes, "that's why they run the race."

With a fourth-place finish in the Nationwide NorthenTool.com 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, Erik Darnell leapt into the top 10 and passed Brad Keselowski. That requires an explanation. Since the Unified Power Rankings looks at all the major series, Keselowski's position is currently being hampered by a failure to qualify at Dover International Speedway, for which he received minimal points. In the Nationwide Series, however, he's been great with a second- and two third-place finishes in his last three attempts.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	107.13	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	100.00	2	0
3	Ryan Briscoe	92.71	4	1
4	Helio Castroneves	92.67	3	-1
5	Dario Franchitti	90.86	8	3
6	Rubens Barrichello	88.63	9	3
7	Jimmie Johnson	87.92	7	0
8	Mark Webber	87.75	10	2
9	Erik Darnell	85.20	16	7
10	Brad Keselowski	85.13	14	4
11	Scott Dixon	85.00	12	1
12	Ryan Newman	83.81	11	-1
13	Kurt Busch	83.58	13	0
14	Mark Martin	83.54	5	-9
15	Jason Leffler	81.83	6	-9
16	Jeff Gordon	81.83	17	1
17	Danica Patrick	80.86	15	-2
18	Greg Biffle	80.47	22	4
19	Dan Wheldon	80.43	24	5
20	Denny Hamlin	79.83	19	-1
21	Carl Edwards	79.83	21	0
22	Matt Kenseth	79.13	25	3
23	Kyle Busch	78.96	18	-5
24	Joey Logano	78.90	27	3
25	Juan Montoya	78.17	26	1
26	Timo Glock	76.88	23	-3
27	Sebastian Vettel	76.75	32	5
28	Matt Crafton	75.29	20	-8
29	Nico Rosberg	74.50	30	1
30	Jeff Burton	73.29	28	-2
31	Kasey Kahne	73.00	31	0
32	Stephen Leicht	73.00	NA	NA
33	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.13	40	7
34	Jamie McMurray	71.42	44	10
35	Fernando Alonso	69.63	29	-6
36	Steve Wallace	69.55	37	1
37	Jason Keller	69.27	38	1
38	Brian Vickers	69.00	42	4
39	Tayler Malsam	68.29	41	2
40	Tomas Scheckter	68.00	NA	NA
41	Jarno Trulli	67.63	45	4
42	Justin Allgaier	67.45	36	-6
43	David Reutimann	67.36	33	-10
44	Marco Andretti	67.14	34	-10
45	Marcos Ambrose	67.00	47	2
46	Dale Earnhardt Jr	66.00	39	-7
47	Johnny Benson Jr	66.00	46	-1
48	Clint Bowyer	65.71	43	-5
49	Tony Kanaan	65.43	35	-14
50	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	65.00	NA	NA

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

F1: British GP Results

Finally someone other than Jenson Button won a Formula 1 race. Prior to the British Grand Prix, he had won six of seven events with Sebastian Vettel taking the Chinese Grand Prix. It's only fitting that Vettel took this race as well after winning the pole and dominating at Silverstone.

For his part, Button finish only sixth. Is the competition finally catching up to him? Don't assume that just yet because teammate Rubens Barrichello was in third.

In several races this year the Brawn teammates Button and Barrichello finished one-two. Red Bull Racing kept that tradition alive by placing Mark Webber in second. That was his fourth consecutive top-five finish this season, which has made him a good driver to keep on your roster.
One other item of note: with the exception of Sebastian Bourdais and Heikki Kovalainen who retired at the start, everyone finished either one the lead lap or only one circuit off the pace and an impressive 11 drivers completed the distance.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	60	Running	10.00
2	3	Mark Webber	60	Running	12.43
3	2	Rubens Barrichello	60	Running	7.65
4	11	Felipe Massa	60	Running	7.86
5	7	Nico Rosberg	60	Running	8.75
6	6	Jenson Button	60	Running	9.90
7	4	Jarno Trulli	60	Running	11.46
8	9	Kimi Raikkonen	60	Running	4.78
9	8	Timo Glock	60	Running	10.50
10	16	Giancarlo Fisichella	60	Running	8.93
11	5	Kazuki Nakajima	60	Running	9.50
12	14	Nelson Piquet Jr	59	Running	14.00
13	12	Robert Kubica	59	Running	10.33
14	10	Fernando Alonso	59	Running	8.63
15	15	Nick Heidfeld	59	Running	10.40
16	19	Lewis Hamilton	59	Running	6.67
17	18	Adrian Sutil	59	Running	18.67
18	20	Sebastian Buemi	59	Running	18.00
19	17	Sebastian Bourdais	0	Retired	15.00
20	13	Heikki Kovalainen	0	Retired	10.67

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F1: Vettel, Weber tops both practices

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Weber were the fastest and second fastest drivers respectively in the two practice sessions for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

In the first practice, the two Brawn Racing teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were not far behind, placing third and fourth on the grid.

Our View: These two teams have been the class of the field all season and those four drivers are likely to dominate in the top-five again.

Practice 1 Times
Practice 2 Times

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