FORMULA ONE:JENSON BUTTON has promised Sebastian Vettel he will not go gunning for the newly-crowned two-time Formula One world champion if there is a repeat of their Suzuka showdown in tomorrow's Korean Grand Prix.

Button was initially angered by Vettel’s aggressive tactics at the start of last Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix when the German swerved over to the British driver’s line, forcing him onto the grass. Following the race Button confronted Vettel and asked him whether that was his approach to racing in the future, suggesting he would adopt similar tactics if that were the case.

Button, however, has since softened his approach, realising there would be no point in fighting fire with fire as it would only end in disaster.

“You still have to be intelligent about the way you go racing,” said Button. “If you know he is not going to back out and he is going to push you on the grass, you are not going to do anything.

“If I hadn’t have backed off, and I had to completely lift off the throttle, then we would have both ended up in the wall.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a quarter of the way up the inside, the whole car crashes when you touch.”

Within seconds of the incident, Button jumped on the team radio and made his anger plain as he said: “He’s gotta get a penalty for that I think, he’s gotta get a penalty for that.”

Although the stewards called an investigation, they opted to impose no penalty on Vettel who went on to finish third behind Button, enough to make him the youngest back-to-back and double champion in the sport’s history.

Button appreciates now his reaction was in the heat of the moment, adding: “I was a little bit surprised at what he did, but when I said on the radio he should get a penalty, emotions were running high.

“It’s not down to me, it’s down to the stewards. They have all the angles and they didn’t think it was necessary to get a penalty, so I agree with them.”

Button, though, did catch Vettel stretching the truth, claiming he failed to see Button approaching on his right.

“The funny thing was when I spoke to Sebastian he said he didn’t see me,” added Button. “I said that on the BBC, and they said ‘well, watch this bit of footage’. He had his head leaning to the right the whole time.”

Far from believing Vettel’s comment, Button said: “Unless he’s just resting his head because he knows its going to be a tough race on his neck, or he’s looking at Lewis (Hamilton) . . .”

In the end it was Button who had the last laugh by claiming his third win of the season to leave him on a high coming into this weekend’s race that yesterday started in the wet. Throughout both 90-minute practice sessions rain dominated, with the McLarens blindingly quick as Hamilton edged Button by a 10th of a second, leaving Vettel 1.8 seconds adrift in third.

But with not one lap completed in the dry, the teams now have just today’s final one-hour practice session to find the optimum set-up ahead of qualifying.

Given McLaren’s upturn in form, Red Bull’s run of 16 consecutive poles stretching back to the tail end of last season is under threat.

“It would be nice to knock Red Bull off pole. It has been pretty difficult all year, so we’ll give it a go,” added Button.

Whatever transpires, Button knows there will be no slacking from Vettel now he has his second world title in his pocket.

Ahead of McLaren’s 700th grand prix this weekend, Button said: “He is the world champion now, and if he doesn’t win it’s a negative.

“So he is still going to be pushing very hard. I don’t think he will suddenly drive any differently for this race just because he has won the championship.

“I remember when I won my title in Brazil, I then went to Abu Dhabi for the final grand prix wanting the best race I possibly could, so it’s not going to change the way he goes racing.”

Remaining 2011 F1 Fixtures

Tomorrow Korean Grand Prix

Oct 30th Indian Grand Prix

Nov 13th Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Nov 27th Brazilian Grand Prix