After a disappointing downturn in performance for McLaren at the last race in Japan, Jenson Button is hoping for a better result in what could be his final United States Grand Prix this weekend.
Despite teammate Fernando Alonso outscoring him heavily in recent races, Button has often found himself battling in the pack. That has led to his car getting damaged or on the back end of most of the reliability issues that still rear their head.
However, the pace of the MP4-31 has taken a massive step forward in recent months often putting them ahead of Toro Rosso and Haas, sometimes even fighting with Force India and Williams.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s race in Austin, Button said: “I’ve always liked racing at this circuit and we managed to put up a good fight last year despite not having the best outright pace, so I’m hoping for more of the same and a bit of a boost after the disappointment of our result in Japan.”
Being one of only five anti-clockwise tracks on the calendar, the Circuit of the Americas will always push the physicality of some drivers. Especially the neck through the punishing long right hander of Turns 17-19.
Thankfully with the weather forecast looking like we will have a far drier event than it was 12 months ago, the layout of the circuit in dry conditions will test every part of the car at this late stage of the season and really show where the team is in terms of pace.
Button added: “COTA is one of the few anti-clockwise circuits on the calendar, and has a bit of everything: fast corners, slow corners and heavy braking zones, so you need a car with good balance, which tends to be one of the strengths of our car.
“You really need to prepare the car for everything! For a driver, it’s great fun and I hope we enjoy a better result there than in Suzuka.”
