Spain

Last Race: 12th May Spain

Spain GP Results
Pos Driver
1 Fernando Alonso
2 Kimi Raikkonen
3 Felipe Massa

Button looking to match Red Bull

Wednesday 31st October 2012

 RSS
Button looking to match Red Bull

Button looking to match Red Bull

Red Bull will no doubt again be the team to beat in Abu Dhabi, but Jenson Button is confident McLaren "can be right up there" come the weekend.

Sebastian Vettel and his RB8 are in a league of their own at the moment with the defending World Champion winning four consecutive races to move 13 points clear in the Drivers' standings.

The German will be out to make it five wins on a row this weekend and you wouldn't bet against him as he has won two of the three races that have been held at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Button, though, believes McLaren has what it takes to get close to the Red Bulls.

"I think this will be another closely matched race: India showed us that the gap between the top three teams is extremely close at the moment, so I wouldn't like to predict the exact pecking order," he said.

"As in the last few races, I think Red Bull will go into the weekend with a slight advantage, but I'm confident that, with a clear run through practice, we can be right up there too."

Having won last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton has every reason to be upbeat about his chances.

"It's a track where you can really push the car, which is what I most enjoy," he said.

"There are a wide variety of corners - I love the fast sweeps in the first sector - and it's incredibly satisfying to hook together a good sector through the tricky marina section of the lap. Good mechanical balance makes all the difference here because you're always changing direction.

"This has also been a place where Red Bull have traditionally gone well, but our race pace was very strong throughout the race in New Delhi. I really enjoyed that race India - fourth place may have been little reward for 60 laps of flat-out effort, but I couldn't have gone any faster.

"I feel confident that we can pull together a strong race weekend in Abu Dhabi."

User comments

    Loading

      Post a comment

      The Monaco GP Is Top Dog

      Editor's Picks

      NTFN: Kimi's New Job

      NTFN: Kimi's New Job

      Force India are still wrestling with Sutil's nuts allergy, while Kimi Raikkonen has branched out into PR...

      Tyred and Emotional

      Tyred and Emotional

      Andrew Davies sticks his big fat oar into the tyre debate and notes how much the FIA have changed...

      The Forum Is Ready To Chat

      The Forum Is Ready To Chat

      Ferrari came apart (literally), Vettel became the first to two, Lotus put two into the top three and the protests continued. Let's chat...

      The PF1 Fantasy League

      The PF1 Fantasy League

      Join the PlanetF1 Fantasy League and go up against the crew at PF1 in our 2013 Friends and Enemies battle...

      The Benetton Class Of 2001

      The Benetton Class Of 2001

      There's something special about the four Benetton drivers lining up in St Mark's Square - they're all in the 200 Club...