Jenson Button says his declaration that his title bid was over was made in the 'heat of the moment', so he is not willing to play a supporting role to Lewis Hamilton just yet.
Finishing 12th in Korea yesterday left Button 42 points behind leader Fernando Alonso with just 50 points available in the last two races, and when asked immediately after the race if he still thought he could successfully defend his title, Button replied "not really".
But on reflection he said he had ruled himself out prematurely, and would still regard himself as a championship contender heading to Brazil, rather than acting as number two to Hamilton, who is within 21 points of Alonso.
"If mathematically I couldn't win the championship then yes, I would help Lewis," Button told British newspaper journalists.
"I said that the championship was over - we say a lot of things in the heat of the moment and I don't stand by that now.
"You don't win world championships by conceding defeat before it is all over.
"If I couldn't win the championship, I would help the team in whatever way I can. "Until then I'll fight and you have seen [in Korea] how things can change fast."
Although Button's hopes look remote, his points deficit is equivalent to a win and a second place - the same margin that Kimi Raikkonen caught up in the final two races of the 2007 season to deny Hamilton and Alonso that year's title.
However McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the topic of getting Button to back Hamilton's title bid was now coming onto the agenda.
"We will think about that," Whitmarsh said.
"We've had a disappointing day with Jenson, Lewis is clearly in the hunt and mathematically it's still not impossible for Jenson, but it looks quite tough."
Button struggled from qualifying onwards in Korea, taking only seventh place on the grid then lacking pace in the race and finishing only 12th.
Whitmarsh put Button's depressing race down to a combination of unfortunate circumstances.
"I think Jenson had a really bad afternoon for a whole range of reasons," said Whitmarsh.
"Jenson is a good driver; he's not four seconds a lap slower than Lewis.
"He wasn't happy with the balance in qualifying, he was locking the front and locking the rear, he wasn't really getting the tyres switched on, and I think he was struggling with in the race.
"That meant he was slipping [back], he'd worn his tyres, we had to stop him a little bit earlier, that didn't really work out.
"It was a whole number of things - if he hadn't taken to the grass at one point he would've had a Force India on top of him.
"By his high standards, it was a very difficult afternoon"
Source: ITV.com/F1
Note: This is clearly a delicate situation in both the Mclaren team and Red Bull team, If it were me, I'd make this decision now because, you CANNOT take the risk of letting your own drivers duke it out and just let Fernando run away with this because if this is what Red Bull and McLaren are going to do, You'd bet that Fernando will take this title.
I hope that both Red Bull and McLaren take this decision despite how hard it is, and Vettel and Button suck it up and give Webber and Hamilton their full support.
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