• Singapore Grand Prix

Button pins title hopes on Suzuka upgrade

ESPNF1 Staff
September 26, 2010 « Heidfeld confident he will stay in F1 next year | »
Jenson Button finished fourth in Singapore © Getty Images
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Jenson Button is pinning his championship hopes on an upgrade at the Japanese Grand Prix after he finished fourth in Singapore and fell further behind Mark Webber in the standings.

Button said McLaren was never expecting to be quick in Singapore and that his fourth place directly behind Webber was the best he could have hoped for, even though he started ahead of the Red Bull on the grid.

"On the prime tyre, I had an issue with rear-end stability, so not being able to challenge a Red Bull car that had 30 extra laps on its tyres showed us that they were very quick around here today," Button said. "But it's a circuit where we knew they'd be competitive, and probably one that was going to be difficult for us, so I go to Japan pretty happy.

"We've got a good upgrade for Suzuka: we'll have something that we tried to put on the car this weekend but couldn't - for reliability reasons. Coupled with our planned-for-Suzuka upgrade, it should hopefully be a bit of a double-whammy."

He said the championship was still open but acknowledged the challenge ahead.

"My championship hopes were dented a little bit by Mark [Webber] finishing ahead of me, but the points gap to the front is just a race victory away. It shows there's still everything to play for - one bad race can cost you a lot of points."

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