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Button sure poor season will help McLaren

ESPN Staff
August 5, 2013 « Brawn wary of tyre progress | Montezemolo slams lack of courage from FIA »
Jenson Button believes McLaren is learning how to get every last bit of performance out of a car © Sutton Images
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Jenson Button is sure that the poor season McLaren is enduring is going to help the team in the future.

McLaren started the season with a radically revised car which has proven uncompetitive so far, with both Button and Sergio Perez failing to secure a podium finish in the opening 10 races of the season. However, Button says that the team has had to work harder to get performance out of the MP4-28 as a result, and he believes it will help McLaren fulfil the potential of a more competitive car.

"I think for both of us [drivers] it's been a difficult season," Button said. "McLaren is known for fighting at the front, fighting for race wins, definitely fighting for podiums pretty much every grand prix, so when you don't have that it's mentally very tough. So I think the start of the season was very difficult for us - as it was for the whole team - but I really do think that we've grown together as a team and we've improved over that period of time.

"I've had bad seasons before, I know how tough it can be but for McLaren it's something that doesn't happen very often. So I think it's really helped us as a team and I think it also helps in the way that you fine-tune every single detail when you're in that position. You try to get every hundredth of a second out of every part on the car because you know you have to because that could make the difference of getting in to Q3, for example.

"So I feel that it's really helped us as a team for the future. When we have a competitive car we will be ready for it."

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