• Indian Grand Prix
Comments: 1

'Every opportunity' of beating Red Bull - Button

ESPN Staff
October 25, 2012 « Massa believes Ferrari tests 'positive' | Gutierrez replaces Perez for FP1 »
Jenson Button: "At the last race we don't know what our car could have done" © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Jenson Button is confident he can take the fight to Red Bull at this weekend's Indian Grand Prix despite Sebastian Vettel's recent run of form.

Vettel has won the last three races, but McLaren have suffered with reliability issues and Button was taken out on the first lap two weeks ago in Korea. He is confident his team can bounce back this weekend and that the underlying pace of the top three teams is not that different.

"At the last race we don't know what our car could have done," he said. "In Japan, yeah, we couldn't have beaten them, but before that it was very close and we were fighting with them. I think they have upgraded their car so they are doing a good job and when the car works well Sebastian gets the most out of it. But we don't come here thinking it's going to be Red Bull all the way and I'm sure Ferrari come here thinking the same way.

"The last few races have been good for them, but in a way you could say that Sebastian was lucky with his win in Singapore and Lewis pulling out. So there is every opportunity of challenging them for victory."

He said McLaren has some small updates in India that could be enough to shift the balance of power at the front of the grid.

"We have some and we've been playing around at the last few races. [The updates] have been quite small, and again here there is not a big update, but every little counts because it's very close at the front. At this race I would say there are three teams that challenge for a victory so it's going to be a competitive weekend, I think."

Button said race wins are the most important thing for him over the last four races and that beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings is not a priority.

"You want to finish as high as you can and it's good to finish in front of your team-mate, but if I had the choice to win two races over the next four and not finish the other two then I'd take that every day. The wins mean a lot more, unless it's for the title."

Close