27/07/2010 9:36 PM
McLaren driver Jenson Button says he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton will go into this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix in Budapest feeling 'more optimistic' about the team's pace.
Button pointed to the good McLaren record at Budapest as another reason why racing fans can expect good performances from the British duo.
The pair finished fourth and fifth respectively behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at last week's German GP, with Button stretching his lead in the drivers' championship to 14 points.
"I think we go to Budapest feeling more optimistic about our pace - the team has traditionally gone well at the track, and we feel we have a high-downforce configuration that should be well-suited to the circuit," Button said.
Hamilton rejected suggestions that Budapest was a slow track where drivers found it exceptionally difficult to pass and was buoyed by his recent record at the track.
"The track has a couple of high-speed corners - in particular, the blind left-hander at Turn Four, and the right-hander at Turn 11 - and, since the revisions to the first corner, it's a place where passing is definitely possible, even if it's not easy," he said.
"It's a circuit that really requires you to pull it all together - like Monaco, there's nowhere to relax, and, because one corner always leads straight into the next, you're really hustling the car the whole way."
"I've always gone well there - I won in 2007, and winning there last year was one of the best races of my career in terms of sheer satisfaction. The whole team was elated with that result because we'd just performed one of the greatest turnarounds in sport, coming from the back of the grid at the start of the season to take victory."
This weekend's race will be the 12th of the season and the last before all the teams enjoy a four-week European summer break.