Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button hoping Alonso beats him in qualifying

Jenson Button hopes team-mate Fernando Alonso beats him in qualifying because it will mean a successful upgrade for McLaren in Austria.

The MP4-30 is receiving a number of updates, with a shorter nose one of the new parts which will be run on Alonso's car. Button says bringing upgrades as soon as they are ready - rather than waiting for enough for both cars - is the way to go for McLaren this season and admits he will class the Austrian Grand Prix a good weekend if Alonso's car is a clear improvement.

“We’ll see, we have to see how we go tomorrow first, but yeah it’s going to be a tough weekend whatever happens," Button said. "It was never going to be a strong circuit for us, which is a pity because I like this place. I think it’s fun, I raced here back in 2000, the circuit hasn’t changed at all since then, and I would love to get a result this weekend but that’s not going to be the case.

"But we still will always do our best and it is good to see a big upgrade, hopefully we can see a good difference in lap time as well. I know it’s not on my car but that doesn't make any difference at this point of the season. We juggle it around every race, it’s important for us to find a benefit from it first and move forward from there. Hopefully it will help us at the British Grand Prix.

"I think a good weekend would be for us to see a good improvement with the updates we have which will hopefully be a good step and will help us over the next few races. So that’s probably the biggest thing really. I don’t want to say it’s a test weekend because I don’t want to come here and test, I want to come here and race and I want to come here and compete. So we’ll do all we can to compete, but it won’t be an easy one.”

While Alonso is set for a big grid penalty in Austria, when it was put to him a good performance from the updates would mean his team-mate is much quicker than him in qualifying, Button replied: “In theory, yes.

"Yeah, he’s still going to be starting behind me … well he might not be actually! Strange to say, but yes!”

Click here for F1i's exclusive interview with Daniel Ricciardo

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.