McLaren shouldn't be scared of Canada - Button

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Jenson Button says McLaren is now at a level where it should not be scared of a power sensitive circuit such as Montreal.

McLaren has been down on outright power since Honda returned as power unit supplier, with the team's best result this season coming in Monaco. However, with McLaren having now scored in each of the last three races, Button believes the car and power unit has progressed sufficiently to be strong in Canada.

“Although this is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, and very power-hungry, one of the strengths of our chassis is stability under heavy braking, so we shouldn’t be fearful of going to a circuit like this and finding ourselves on the back foot," Button said.

"Our development rate is steep and there’s huge work going on behind the scenes to constantly improve the performance of our whole package, so I’m excited to see how we perform in Canada, given how different the circuit’s characteristics are compared to Monaco."

And Button is hoping for more wet weather after McLaren capitalised on the conditions in Monaco last weekend.

“Canada is definitely considered a classic on the F1 calendar. It’s a fantastic city and I love going there every year. The whole city offers an incredible welcome and the buzz is like no other place – the atmosphere is definitely unique to Montreal. It’s always a mightily unpredictable race – the weather conditions, the high walls, the narrow track, the slippery surfaces – it really sorts the men from the boys.

“Although Monaco is an adopted home for me, the race weekend there is always a massive whirlwind, so heading to Canada will be a completely different feeling, and I’m looking forward to the relaxed atmosphere there.

"We had good reliability in Monaco, and both Fernando and I managed to keep it on the black stuff in some pretty crazy conditions, so I’m hoping the weather will throw up a few surprises and we can get stuck in on track.”

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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.