Jenson Button believes McLaren will be able to race with Williams and possibly Ferrari in today's Belgian Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion qualified ninth on Saturday, splitting the two Williams drivers after Felipe Massa made a mistake at Turn 1. Despite Spa-Francorchamps putting an emphasis on power unit performance, Button is confident McLaren can fight to move forward in the race.
"We’re probably running a little bit more downforce than others, so the first five corner will be tricky but in the downhill section we’re fourth quickest or something," Button said. "Our long run pace on Friday was reasonable, so we should be able to fight with the Williams and maybe even one of the Ferraris, we'll see.”
While the Ferrari suggestion appears optimistic having been a second slower than fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel in Q3, Button says McLaren should be stronger over a race distance.
"We won’t be racing near the front but our race pace should be better than our qualifying pace. I have a Williams in front and one Williams behind me and we should be able to challenge them.
"The team has done a great job this weekend, Honda has brought a new power unit that is a definitive improvement. We didn’t expect to be this far up in qualifying here, so that’s up to the progress made by the whole team. Hats off to Honda for bringing a really good upgrade."
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