Button needs to get back on track

Jenson Button has admitted that he needs a good result in Canada to get his championship challenge back on track, but added that no one has yet seized control of the title race.

Since winning the opening round in Australia and finishing second in the Chinese GP, Button’s season has unravelled. The McLaren driver recorded retirements in Bahrain and Monaco and an eighth-place finish in Spain to take just two points from the past three races. In that time, team-mate Lewis Hamilton has scored 18 points while current Drivers’ Championship leader Fernando Alonso has taken 39 points.

“It’s been a very mixed bag over the first six races, but yes, in the last few races I’ve retired twice and I’ve scored two points in the other race. They haven’t been my finest weekends,” he admitted. “So, yes, I need to score some good points this weekend to get it back on track.

“I think we all come here hoping for a victory, aiming for a victory, but as we’ve seen for most of the season just being consistently in the double figures in terms of points is key really to fighting at the front this year. However, I purposefully haven’t looked at the points for the past few races but I don’t think anyone is streaking ahead in the championship.”

Button added that since his podium in China luck has not been on his side and also admitted that he needs to improve in qualifying to give himself the best chance on race days.

“Some of it has been (because of) Saturday afternoon, but not all of it,” he said. “When you put yourself in a difficult position in qualifying, you can either get unlucky or lucky at turn one, especially around a place like Monaco, and obviously we got very unlucky.

“It just hasn’t really fallen into place,” he added. “It’s a very competitive season in F1 and I think if you do have a mistake or something goes wrong where you don’t have luck on your side, you can be outside the points, or you can be scoring small points which in previous years would be a shock really, to be scoring two or three points in a grand prix when you’re driving for McLaren, but this season is very different.

“There are, if you look at the history in the sport, there are big teams, you would say, but this season you wouldn’t pick out McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull as being the big teams in the sport. It’s massively competitive. It just hasn’t gone my way and the team’s way over the last few races but that will turn round, and we will be back scoring good points.”

Despite the slump, Button is hopeful of better times in Montreal, the scene last year of one of his finest victories. Then he took the lead from Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to seal victory after a marathon four-hour, rain-lashed race.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend.” he said. “I have some very special memories here, especially last year, but also 2010 and back when I qualified in pole here before. So looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we’ve got to play with.”