Ross Brawn believes the relationship between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will not be damaged by their title battle.

After Button’s superb start to the season in which he won six of the first seven races, the 29-year-old has struggled for form since, making just one appearance on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month.

Barrichello, meanwhile, had been the in-form Brawn driver in the build up to last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, with two wins from the three previous races.

After a poor qualifying performance, Button recovered to claim fifth place while Barrichello finished one position behind in sixth.

That means Button increased his lead in the championship to 15 points with just three races remaining this season.

There have been suggestions that the fact the two are battling so close for the world title could lead to one withholding information from the other.

But team principal Brawn stressed that no such tactics are taking place and both drivers enjoy an honest and open relationship with each other.

“I can assure you the information is all there on the data screens and each engineer is free to look at the other driver’s data,” he said.

“I don’t think the drivers ever tell each other the nuances of how they brake or steer into a corner. I have never seen that happen before, and I am sure I will never see it happen again.

“You don’t get the apprentice and master style approach, but this is as good as I’ve ever seen it in terms of two drivers trying to beat each other in a championship. They are very open and very honest with each other.

“There is no pressure from outside the team and we just want to do things as openly and as fairly as we can.

“Something may happen where one driver gets upset with the other, or gets upset with the team, and we cannot predict that. All we can do is be as straightforward as we can.”

Meanwhile, Brawn stressed the outcome of the championship would not influence his decision on who drives for his team in 2010, adding that a decision will not be made until after the season has finished.

“We’ve got this championship going on at the moment and discussions are going on, but nothing will be announced until much later,” he said.