Bets are off as Jenson Button rules out flush of failure

Jenson Button declined an invitation to flush his head down the toilet on Tuesday after saying all bets were off in his Formula One title battle with McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton. 

The world champion was left open-mouthed at a British Grand Prix news conference by a cheeky question posed by 11-year-old Carl Hillis, reporting for the Great Ormond Street Hospital magazine.

Hillis, who had a bone marrow transplant two years ago after being treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma since the age of three, asked the drivers whether they had a bet on which would be champion this year.   

When told they had not, and after Hamilton had suggested the older Briton might want to wager one of the cars in his collection, the Essex schoolboy was asked what he thought the loser should do.                                           

"Did you really just say that? 'Get your head flushed down the toilet''," asked Button with a laugh when he heard the answer.

"Sounds like a good plan, that does. I'm going to get my running shoes on if it doesn't work out for me this year," joked the champion, who famously ran down the final straight after winning last year''s Monaco Grand Prix.

The news conference, organised by race sponsor Santander, followed a Formula One fund raising party on Monday night that raised 500,000 pounds ($759,800) for the central London hospital.                                                                                   

Vettel favourite                                           

Hamilton, the 2008 champion, leads the standings ahead of Sunday's race at Silverstone with Button six points behind in second place. Both have won two races each this season.  

Bookmakers William Hill have Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel as 115 favourite to win on Sunday with Hamilton at 31 and Button offered at 132.                                           

"The betting will be all about the Brits at Silverstone this weekend, but more surprisingly Button is the most backed," said Hill's spokesman Joe Crilly. "Should either of them win however, we will certainly be in the pits."                                           

Although the two Britons finished second and third in the previous race at Valencia, Red Bull showed they still had a clear speed advantage with Germany''s Vettel winning that race to move up to third overall.

Championship-leading McLaren are hoping to have a big new upgrade for Silverstone with Button, who has yet to stand on his home podium in more than a decade in F1, saying they needed it to stay out in front.

"We do need to raise our game," he said. "We do need to add performance to the car if we are going to challenge the Red Bulls and a couple of other teams.

"Hopefully we will get it all right for this weekend, that has to be our aim. You can''t hope that it will be okay at the next race and you can't give away a race this year, you have to be consistently fighting at the front," said Button.  

"I don't want to think about it if it doesn't work."

Former champion Damon Hill had compared Hamilton and Button on Monday to the fable of the hare and the tortoise, an unflattering comparison for the older champion despite the slower creature emerging as winner in the end.

Button brushed off the comment: "I won the world championship last year because I was quick," he said. "I won six races and I was always there fighting. For me that is the key to he championship, it's not about just consistency."