Speaking in the wake of his team's 1-2 at Monza, Ross Brawn has promised to allow his two drivers to go head-to-head in the battle for the Drivers' Championship.

The Brackley team's return to form in Italy, coupled with Red Bull's failure, effectively leaves Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello as the two main protagonists.

However, speaking after Barrichello led home a convincing 1-2 at the historic circuit, and mindful of previous claims that his team favours Button, Ross Brawn promised that he will essentially give his driver free reign to slug it out.

"I ask only that they compete openly and fairly," said the Englishman. "They have got to work together and it all has to be on top of the table."

Today's result leaves Brawn with a 40.5 lead in the Constructors' Championship, with a maximum 72 points on offer from the 4 remaining races. In the Drivers' Championship, Button enjoys a 14 point lead over his teammate with Vettel and Webber 26 and 28.5 points behind, respectively. With only 40 points available in the Drivers' Championship, the battle is now essentially between the Brackley drivers, though Vettel has an outside chance.

"We will just leave them to it," Brawn promised. "They are old enough to deal with it. You have just got to make sure the atmosphere is calm, consistent and open and that there are no distractions."

However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner refuses to wave the white flag, telling reporters: "We will keep pushing, we haven't given up on anything.

"We know it's a mountain to climb up," he continued, "but we wont be giving up until it is mathematically impossible.

"Engines are a key factor and we can see that the Mercedes engine is performing extremely well," he admitted. "We are down in that department at the moment and that is something we need to address if we want to compete. It is no coincidence that we are struggling on circuits that are predominantly power based.

"We want to finish the year on a high," he added defiantly.