Jenson Button says he does not mind sacrificing reliability in a bid to unlock more peformance, with McLaren-Honda entering this weekend’s British Grand Prix in the wake of several technical retirements.
The 2009 world champion withdrew with a gearbox issue in Canada, while team-mate Fernando Alonso did likewise in Baku. The Spaniard also suffered an electric motor problem last time out in Austria, which saw him eventually call it a day in the final laps.
Speaking in Thursday’s FIA press conference at Silverstone, Button explained he was not worried by his team’s recent poor record in terms of reliability.
“In a lot of teams, cars are not finishing,” the 36-year-old said. “I don’t think that’s an issue. I’d rather be pushing things to the limit and getting better results and possibly having some reliability issues.
“We’re not fighting for the world championship this year, far from it, so it’s important for us to maximise what we have, enjoy the weekend, get the best out of what we have that weekend.”
Button was a strong sixth at the Red Bull Ring last Sunday. Despite Honda spending two more tokens on its internal combustion engine ahead of the race, the Briton deems a repeat of such strong result unlikely.
“Coming here, I don’t expect we’ll be qualifying fifth unless we do get some really good British weather and have a good downpour, which I’m hoping for because I think we do have more of an opportunity, we’ll see.
“The race is going to be reasonably tricky for us. Our car is very good in slow-speed corners. High-speed corners, we still don’t really know.
“We do have some upgrades aero-wise, engine-wise, so it’s moving forward. It's just never as quick as you hope it is.
“The guys are doing a good job at bringing something to every race. On the power side, there should a positive step for us on this circuit.”
Chris Medland's 2016 British Grand Prix preview
Scene at the Austrian Grand Prix
Breakfast with ... Alexander Rossi
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