JUNE 3, 2012

Button targets stronger qualifying in Montreal

After problematic qualifying sessions in Spain and Monaco, Jenson Button is hoping for a turnaround in next weekend's Canadian GP, despite his stunning last-to first victory in Montreal last year.

After problematic qualifying sessions in Spain and Monaco, Jenson Button is hoping for a turnaround in next weekend's Canadian GP, despite his stunning last-to first victory in Montreal last year.

"It's going to be important to get a handle on the car in qualifying," Button said. "At the last two races Q2 hasn't gone my way, so no matter what pace you have in the race, you're still compromised on Sunday afternoon, particularly as the pack is so tightly bunched at. My aim is to have a stronger qualifying performance and build on that.

"My win last year was one of those rare occasions when everything just came right - it's still hard to believe that I was running in last place past half-distance and yet still managed to come through and take victory on the final lap. The memories of that win will always be with me."

Lewis Hamilton, despite driving splendidly all season, is amazingly not among F1's record six different winners at the start of the 2012 season. He will be aiming to be the seventh next Sunday, and wlll not want a repeat of 2011, when he had a coming-together with his team mate!

"I know that the results we all want will soon come," Hamilton said. "I'm doing everything to extract every tenth from the car. We are still very much in the hunt for this championship and I'm looking forward to bringing that fight to Montreal, which is one of my favourite races of the season.

"The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a fantastic track - it's super-fast in places, which means it requires finesse and precision, but you can also end up racing wheel-to-wheel with people at 200mph too, which is an incredible sensation.

"You want a car with decent low-speed traction - all those long drags are usually preceded by tight hairpins, so it's important that you can get the power down efficiently.

"With KERS and DRS in the mix, it should be an exciting grand prix - although, interestingly, we're reverting to a shorter, single-DRS zone after the double-zone last year.

"On paper, I think our car will be well-suited to the combination: we showed in Spain that we're very good in high-speed corners, but we were also quick in the final sector, which is slower and more technical."

Hamilton has a great record in Montreal; he won his first grand prix there in 2007, dominated in 2010 and has started the race from pole position three times.