JULY 5, 2012

Button not giving up on championship

Jenson Button, who is still looking for his first podium finish in his home Grand Prix, says that despite three disappointing races in succession, he is not giving up on a shot at the championship.

Jenson Button, who is still looking for his first podium finish in his home Grand Prix, says that despite three disappointing races in succession, he is not giving up on a shot at the championship.

"The gap might be 60 points but you see how quickly it can turn around," the '09 champion said on the eve of the British GP at Silverstone. "If it was one person streaking away, like Sebastian last year, that's another matter, but this year is different."

Button refused to de despondent about his tough race in Valencia a fortnight ago and thinks McLaren can take the race to Red Bull at Silverstone despite the RB8's pace in Spain.

"The car actually felt good in Valencia apart from Q3," Button explained. "The cars are changing a lot from qualifying to race. On Saturday we had big front locking and on Sunday massive rear locking and you've adjusted the brake balance by maybe 5%. It's very weird and we need to get to the bottom of it."

Button said that McLaren's Silverstone upgrade includes aero advances and some mechanical bits which are "very exciting."

"People got very excited about the Red Bull pace in Valencia and obviously it had very good downforce and worked well in slow corners, which is where we were a bit lacking. But that shouldn't matter here, so we should be competitive.

"I don't think we'll see what we saw in Valencia here but I could be wrong. I hope I'm not..."