Jenson Button has warned his rivals not to underestimate McLaren ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend.
Title leaders Red Bull are the favourites to win at Suzuka after dominating at the circuit over the last two years and coming to Japan on the back of three consecutive wins. But Button, who finished a close second to Sebastian Vettel in Singapore last weekend, is confident McLaren can pose a threat on the high-speed circuit.
"In the last few races, I think we've shown that we have extremely good pace and that we've been the team most able to take the fight to Red Bull," he said. "On paper, I think it's a circuit that will suit the Red Bulls, particularly in the high-speed sweeps that make up the first sector of the track, but I certainly don't think people should underestimate our package.
"We showed at Spa that we have a car that's very effective in high-speed corners. We've also improved our straight-line speed and we have a more efficient rear-wing for qualifying, so I think we're feeling positive about the weekend. For everyone who follows Formula One, I hope we can put on a great race to bring further strength to the people of Japan. And to everyone in Japan, I say: ganbatte!"
With Vettel now a single point away from clinching the drivers' championship, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted the teams focus is now on securing individual wins and using the car to develop parts for 2012.
"While there remains a mathematical, albeit slim, chance of Jenson securing the world championship, we realistically go into these last races with an undimmed resolution to win, and to ensure the world championship remains interesting, exciting and unpredictable for as long as possible," he said. "To that end, we're still pushing ahead with the development of key areas of the MP4-26 - in particular, we're focusing on areas where there will be significant carry-over of performance and learning into 2012. With the 26, the key areas of overlap development are the front and rear wings: any downforce we find this year can be carried over to the MP4-27.
"Encouragingly, we were able to successfully track-test our latest iteration of rear wing in Singapore, it proving sufficiently positive during Friday practice that it was deployed on both cars for the remainder of the race weekend. While there will be an inevitable shift of focus and deployment towards the new car, we still have enough momentum within the development system to ensure that we'll still be introducing new parts through until the last few races of the season."
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