Asked if it was his toughest period since he joined McLaren
in 2010, Button acknowledged that it was.
“Yeah,” he said. “Since I joined the team everything was going well and my
confidence had stepped up a gear; understanding the car and working with the
engineers.
“Even this year, the first three races were good and then suddenly in the last
three – I don’t know where it is. The pace and the feeling that I’m getting
from the car I’ve not had before.
“It’s tough but it’s nothing we can’t sort out – it’s just a question of
whether we do it in time.”
Button will expunge the memory of Monaco in familiar fashion with a triathlon
in Ireland on Saturday before performing a show run around the streets of
Dublin in an F1 car on Sunday.
And he added that he was looking forward to getting out to Montreal, the scene
of perhaps his greatest ever victory, a four-hour epic in torrential rain
last year.
“I have great memories of Monaco but even greater memories of Canada in 2011
so we have to stay confident and positive that we can come out of these past
three races and get some good points,” he said, adding that Mercedes would
likely be the car to beat at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“Mercedes have strong DRS and good downforce at low speeds so they’ll be
quick. That’s probably the car to beat.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has played down
speculation that Monaco race winner Mark Webber might join Ferrari next
season, although he insisted there was no hurry to tie the Australian to a
new contract. “Why would he want to leave?” Horner asked. “The team are
doing well and Mark knows the team very well.
“It is the same situation that we have had the last couple of years. Let’s
focus on now and the future will take care of itself.”