Trulli sets sights on podium

Jarno Trulli hopes to return to the podium in front of his home crowd in this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Trulli, one of only two men to have beaten world champion Michael Schumacher this season, suffered a nightmare race day in Belgium to let slip a chance of victory.

He started from pole position but mechanical problems dropped him out of the points, something he wants to rectify on home turf this weekend.

Trulli, who is still waiting to confirm his move from Renault to Toyota for next season, said: “I am sure things will go much better in Monza.

“When you have a result like Spa, you need to have the confidence in yourself to bounce back, and I do.

“This is my home race, so I will have a lot of supporters and that brings added motivation, not pressure.

“The team have responded brilliantly to build a completely new car for this race, so I just hope I can get back to a normal level of performance at this race.

“Over the past two years, our car has suited Monza well, and we should have the baseline performance to fight for the podium.

“If we can put ourselves in that position, then anything can happen in the race, especially with the heavy braking into the chicanes and the potential for incidents.”

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Jenson Button admits he must be selfish if he is to fulfil his dream of becoming world champion.

The Englishman plans to leave BAR to join Williams at the end of the season, where he hopes to be able to challenge for a maiden title.

Button concedes he has to look after himself and not worry about others if he is to become world number one, and he believes Williams are the team to give him that chance.

He said: “It is a little bit selfish but you have to be sometimes. I work pretty well with teams but in the end my main aim is to be world champion for myself. If I was at BAR I would be earning more money next year.”

Button will again link up with Australian driver Mark Webber at Williams - providing the legal dispute over his move is resolved in his favour.

This time though, the pair will be on a more equal footing than their time at Renault, when Button was race driver while Webber tested.

Webber has a reputation as a no-nonsense driver and Button knows he will face a tough task to claim top spot at Williams next season.

He added: “We are both really looking forward to it. He has had a good career, not just in Formula One but in other formulas.

“He is a very serious guy, he is very focused on his job.

“Both of us being in the same team is only going to help the team and ourselves because we are going to push each other on and that’s what the team needs.

“We were team-mates at Renault when I was racing and he was testing. I know him pretty well, we have done a bit of training in the past.”