Somerset's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello both believe their friendship can stand the heat of a fierce world title fight.

For the fourth time this year Brawn GP scored a one-two finish, but Barrichello chalked up his first win of the season as he won the Italian Grand Prix for the third time.

The Brazilian has now out-scored his British team-mate by 22 points to 10 over the last three races, closing the gap at the top of the standings to 14 with four races remaining.

Both men were naturally ebullient after this latest success as the team displayed a remarkable return to form, pretty much ending Red Bull Racing's championship hopes.

With Mark Webber punted off the track by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica on the opening lap and Sebastian Vettel picking up only one point – thanks to Lewis Hamilton's last-lap crash – they are now 26 and 28.5 points adrift.

Mathematically it is not over for the Australian or the German but effectively it is a two-horse race.

There were smiles, backslaps and handshakes between the Brawn duo as soon as the race had ended and as they made their way to the podium, but the question is: can such camaraderie continue as the battle intensifies?

"I don't know. I've put on a brave face lately, but I absolutely hate this guy who doesn't know his a**e from his elbow when it comes to racing cars!" joked Button.

"We've a good relationship and we've been team-mates for many years now. We're working together. We've had to pull our car to the front and we will see how it goes from here but I think we're still going to be sharing information.

"Obviously, when we go on the circuit we're fierce rivals. We're not going to give up until the end.

"I've obviously the advantage of 14 points, which has got smaller at the last couple of races, but Rubens is going to be a very tough rival.

"He's skilled behind the wheel, as we've seen for many years, and he's been able to show his talent again here."

Barrichello insisted neither man is looking to fight dirty.

"If it is between us two, there's the old saying that you can only win in Formula One if you're tough," he said. "We're both nice guys, so this is the end of it! But I think the best thing in life is respect.

"Obviously, when we're finding the softer or harder spring is the better one for the car, you go to the other side of the garage and tell them that's what you have found.

"But it's an open book there. We have our meetings and we both go through the check list at the same time.

"At the end of the day, the cars are very similar, but that's fine, that's how it is."

Despite the mountainous struggle now faced by Red Bull, Button is refusing to dismiss the threat they will pose in Singapore, Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"There's always the possibility they'll be strong, you never know, and we might have some bad luck," added Button.

"I would say it's more than likely between the two of us but you can never count out the Red Bulls."

Hamilton gave his all in his attempt to catch Button, but ultimately he overdid it. With half a lap remaining and having closed the gap on Button to less than a second, the reigning world champion put too much of his front left wheel on the Lesmo kerb, which sent him into a spin and crashing heavily into a tyre wall. The smash promoted Kimi Raikkonen on to the podium for the fourth successive race.