• German Grand Prix - FP2

Button predicts McLaren step forward

ESPN Staff
July 5, 2013 « No tyre safety concerns in Germany - Hembery | Raikkonen 'will race whatever happens' »
Jenson Button: "Our pace relative to the cars we are racing at the moment - the Toro Rossos and the Force Indias - wasn't too bad" © Sutton Images
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Jenson Button is confident of a better race weekend at the German Grand Prix after feeling he had the upper hand over the other midfield cars during Friday practice.

McLaren has failed to score a point at the last two races and has genuinely struggled to match the likes of Force India and Toro Rosso for pace, let alone the top four teams. Button believes the car feels better this weekend and he is hoping to be in the mix at the front of the midfield.

"As soon as we drove out of the garage this morning the car felt pretty good," he said. "We're still a long way off the front guys, but our pace relative to the cars we are racing at the moment - the Toro Rossos and the Force Indias - wasn't too bad.

"The long run this morning wasn't too bad, although in the afternoon w didn't get a good long run and we need to look at why that is. The short run pace is okay, we're a second off the quickest car but we all know how fast the Red Bulls and Mercedes are."

Teams have been told to stick to Pirelli's recommendations over tyre pressures and camber settings this weekend after the failures at the British Grand Prix. Button said the prescriptive limitations were causing his tyres to overheat and grain.

"It does mean that you overheat the tyre very quickly," he said. "I think the reason we are graning the front tyres is that we're overheating it. But we are where we are with pressures."

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