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No team orders yet, promises Brawn

Rubens Barrichello has been promised by team chief Ross Brawn that there will be no team orders imposed any time soon to prevent him racing Jenson Button

Just a fortnight after Barrichello suggested to the media that he would turn his back on Formula 1 if he found the team was deliberately favouring Button, Brawn has made it clear that he is keen to let both men compete on equal terms.

"No, we are not going to do that," said Brawn about the prospect of making Button a clear number one in the not too distant future. "We will let the two drivers race each other at this stage of the season.

"If we reach a critical stage where only one of them can win the world championship then things might change, but that is far from the case at the moment.

"We think we have a better team if we are completely open with the drivers, they race each other, and they mustn't knock each other off - that is all I ask."

Brawn believed the team orders controversy that flared up briefly after the Spanish Grand Prix was no longer an issue - and in fact had been cleared up pretty quickly after the Barcelona race.

"It sort of evaporated almost straight away at the track," said Brawn, suggesting the quit comments made by Barrichello had been muttered in the heat of the moment.

"You get out of a car, you think you had a chance of winning the race and you are sat inside the car in your own little world, not knowing everything else that was going on. And naturally when someone puts a microphone in front of your face then you are frustrated.

"But when he got back to the office and we went through the numbers he was completely relaxed. In fact, he knew we had not played any silly games, he was just frustrated that he thought he was in with a good shout to win. And it has been the same here in Monaco.

"He thought he could set pole, was strong, and Jenson pulled out something a little bit special in the last minute."

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