Ross Brawn hailed Jenson Button's victory at Istanbul Park as the drive of his life but said it was wrong to compare the Briton to Michael Schumacher.

This season Button has enjoyed the sort of dominance Schumacher had with Brawn at Ferrari, the 29-year-old's victory yesterday his sixth from seven races in 2009.

And Brawn said: “That's probably his best performance yet even if it was not the most dramatic. He is a really impressive driver and he did exactly what he needed to. He looked after the tyres and he looked after the race from the word go.”

Button is on course to exceed Schumacher's best season in Formula One — back in 2004 when he teamed up with Brawn to win 13 of that season's races.

But Brawn refused to compare the two. “I've been very lucky to have worked with some very good drivers,” said the team boss. “And I don't want to start making comparisons. It would be wrong to as Jenson and Michael aren't driving together in the same car.

“But what I would say is that Jenson is quite exceptional. He's very fit, dedicated and has a nice approach to things. He's a very enjoyable guy to work with and he's incredibly quick.”

Button now boasts a 26-point lead in the championship over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who retired from the race. Brawn said it was still too early to talk about championship celebrations but warned Button's rivals that there was more to come from the Briton.

“He's improving all the time but so are Red Bull so we can't start taking it easy,” added Brawn.

Red Bull closed the gap on Brawn GP in the constructors' standings after driver duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel finished second and third respectively.

And Brawn insisted the Red Bulls still posed a serious threat to Button and Brawn's double title ambitions.

“Formula One is a fickle industry,” said Brawn. “We've got the impetus right now but that can change frighteningly quickly. We had a couple of seasons with Ferrari where we looked like we were going to win titles but we didn't do it so we're not getting carried away just yet.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has pledged to ruin Button's bid to win on home soil at the British Grand Prix in two weekends' time.

Horner said: “Jenson was the deserving winner but I think that was actually our best challenge yet and I think we're getting there.

“We threw everything at Brawn GP with two very different strategies but it just wasn't quite enough in the end. We'd like to make life difficult for them at the British Grand Prix.

“We think we've got a really good chance, our best in fact since Sebastian's win in China and we've certainly not given up the fight, not by any stretch of the imagination.

“The car's developed well and we should be right up there at Silverstone.”

McLaren are all too aware of how quickly things can change. Just seven months ago, the team were celebrating Lewis Hamilton's title triumph in Interlagos and, at the weekend, the defending world champion finished 13th in the race.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted it was hard to keep a smile on his face amid the team's tribulations. “Actually, this is a grimace,” he said after the race at Istanbul Park.