By Phil Huff
August 25 2009

As we move in to the final third of the RealBrawnGP.com For Sure World Championship, the chase for the trophy is hotting up, with new boy Jaime Alguersuari mounting a strong challenge to leaders Felipe Massa and Jenson Button.

Alguersuari made a great start in Hungary, using the mandated phrase 'for sure' no less than four times in his first F1 press conference, but faded slightly in Valencia, dropping back to just one usage, and a For Sure score therefore of 2.50.

This keeps him close to the top, though, with Felipe Massa still holding on to fist place with a score of 3.00, ahead of Jenson Button on 2.76. Special mention has to be made of Button who has dropped back slightly in recent races, failing to recapture the glory of the Monaco qualifying press conference where he said 'for sure' a stunning eight times.

Lewis Hamilton surprised us all by regaining his earlier form in the last two races, getting the required wording in seven times over the Hungarian and European GP weekends. However, a couple of conferences without the phrase means he's actually dropped back slightly, dropping from 2.25 down to 2.00.

Luca Badoer, standing in for an injured Felipe Massa, must be disappointed with his performance, scoring no points at all during his pre-race press conference. Likewise, Heikki Kovalainen, whilst not getting the same opportunities as team mate Hamilton, is failing to make as much as he can from the chances provided.

"A dip in performance from all drivers between Turkey and Germany was worrying," said F1 language consultant Elaine Conedoff, "but getting Button back in the conferences for Hungary seemed to revitalise the field. They know what they're up against!"

F1's language standards adjudicator, Major Nameup, is less impressed with results of late. "We were encouraged by the dip during the early summer months, but Jenson Button continues to undermine our efforts to outlaw the use of the words 'for' and 'sure' when placed together unnecessarily in a sentence, and is very nearly at the limit for the season. A penalty looks increasingly likely. At the end of the day, I go home."

RealBrawnGP.com For Sure World Championship 2009
Pos		Driver	Team	Events	For Sure	FS/Ev*
1		Massa	Ferrari	3	9	3.00
2		Button	Brawn GP	17	47	2.76
3		Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	2	5	2.50
4		Hamilton	McLaren	8	16	2.00
5		Bourdais	Toro Rosso	2	3	1.50
6		Alonso	Renault	5	7	1.40
7		Piquet	Renault	1	1	1.00
8		Raikkonen	Ferrari	7	5	0.71
9		Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	3	2	0.67
10		Vettel	Red Bull	17	9	0.53
11		Sutil	Force India	2	1	0.50
-		Buemi	Toro Rosso	2	1	0.50
13		Webber	Red Bull	13	6	0.46
14		Barrichello	Brawn GP	13	5	0.38
15		Rosberg	Williams	3	1	0.33
16		Kubica	BMW Sauber	4	1	0.25
17		Trulli	Toyota	5	1	0.00
18		Nakajima	Williams	1	0	0.00
-		Fisichella	force India	1	0	0.00
-		Badoer	Ferrari	1	0	0.00
21		Kovalainen	McLaren	3	0	0.00
22		Glock	Toyota	4	0	0.00
23		Grosjean	Renault	-	-	0.00

* The RealBrawnGP.com For Sure World Championship monitors the official FIA press conferences. The Thursday, Friday, Qualifying and Race conferences from each Grand Prix weekend are counted, but only for driver appearances. An 'event' is defined as one such press conference, and the total usage of 'for sure' over the season will be divided by the total number of events a driver has participated in to produce a For Sure per Event figure. In the event of a draw, the driver with the least 'events' will take the lead, they having been given fewer opportunities to use the vital phrase.