Jenson Button is confident Honda’s electric deployment gains on its power unit will prove a genuine boost for McLaren’s chances at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The Japanese manufacturer endured a torrid outing at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez last year amid poor reliability and performance. Button particularly struggled on the track’s immense main straight, with the Briton saying at the time that rivals were “45kph quicker than us” with DRS and full deployment.
Despite team-mate Fernando Alonso calling for McLaren-Honda to remain “realistic”, Button actually believes power unit improvements over the past 12 months put the Woking-based outfit in a good spot.
“It was tough, our deployment was a long way off last year and that hurts you around here because it’s a long lap, lots of straights, so my deployment was shutting off before we got to the DRS line halfway down the straight,” the 2009 world champion said of last year’s Mexican GP.
“So people actually passed us before they had DRS to overtake us, so it was a very difficult race. The layout itself, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for our car. The mid-speed corners aren’t the best, but the low-speed corners are really good for us.
“And in terms of deployment I think we are the best out there, or equal to the best. Obviously we’re still down but I think the deployment has a bigger effect around here so it should be one of our better circuits.”
Buoyed by McLaren-Honda’s outlook, Button thinks a repeat of last Sunday’s double points finish could be on the cards.
“Obviously the Virtual Safety Car helped a lot [in Austin], but [Fernando] stopped on the same lap as the Toro Rosso. But I think we thought we could challenge them anyway and the Williams, so we are still the fourth best team.”
Alonso claimed fifth at COTA, while Button came home in ninth position.
Chris Medland's 2016 Mexican Grand Prix preview
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