Asked what positives McLaren could take from Canada, Button looked blank.
“There are no positives. We took it too easy on the tyres because we thought
they wouldn’t last flat out. So we could have been in the points. But even
then we would have been eighth, ninth or 10th. We still would have been
lapped by the leaders. That’s the shocker, really.
“The positive is that Silverstone is a very different circuit. The new parts
we put on the car didn’t work here. But hopefully they will work around
Silverstone where there are more high-speed corners. I’m still much happier
being at a team like McLaren than at a smaller team when you have issues
like this. I’m still in a great team, probably the best team to find your
way out of a situation like this. It will happen. It just takes time.”
How much time is the question. McLaren have already admitted publicly that
next year could be tricky as they enter the final year of their engine deal
with Mercedes-Benz. They will then venture into the unknown with Honda for
2015.
Already McLaren are being targeted by some of the smaller, more ambitious
teams. Force India’s Paul di Resta, whose drive from 17th to seventh in
Canada helped the Silverstone outfit to leapfrog McLaren into fifth place in
the constructors’ championship, revealed afterwards that that had been the
team’s objective all along.
“We have come away scoring more points than the team we want to beat and that
is McLaren,” the Scot said. “The car is the best it has been. We can improve
on it and we will push for the grands prix coming up.” As will McLaren,
increasingly desperately.