Jenson Button is hoping to end a run of poor results at Silverstone, where he has never made the podium, and challenge rivals Red Bull for victory at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The 30-year-old McLaren driver has yet to finish higher than fourth in his 11 races at the Northamptonshire-based track and admitted a home victory would mean a lot to him.
“I haven’t even got on the podium in an F1 car, so that would be my first aim and obviously it is one you want to win,” said Button.
“We all want to fight for the championship. We all want to win Monaco and all want to win our home GP. It is one I have not achieved yet so it’s the one I am fighting for.”
Although his McLaren team will introduce upgrades to his car this weekend, Button, currently second in the title race, was unsure whether it will be enough to challenge the pace of the red-hot Red Bulls.
“There is always a chance, whether it is a big enough chance we don’t know. Looking at the last race Red Bull was strong and we were quite a bit behind them.
“We have updates for this race which will help us and which might help us more than other teams.”
Despite trailing championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by 77 points, Button was adamant that the defending champion is not out of reach.
“He is still pushing hard, he is on the limit. He’s done a very good job in qualifying, and it’s very impressive to put it on pole every race but one.
“We have challenged them a few times. Four times we have challenged them, two races we beat them, two races we didn’t. It isn’t a walk in the park for him, and we hope it continues like that.”
His McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton was looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd.
He said: “I’ve had some good races here, it’s a very special place for me and now they have revamped the circuit it’s even better.
“I’m really proud of what’s been done and I hope we can translate that into a win for the fans.” — AFP