Continuity helps McLaren - Button

Jenson Button says he is driving better than ever and more confident at McLaren © Getty Images

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Jenson Button says McLaren is closing the gap to Red Bull and that he hopes to continue the momentum in to 2012 after signing a new contract.

Button's future was confirmed yesterday with the announcement of a new "multi-year contract", having first joined McLaren in 2010. Although Sebastian Vettel is just one point away from this season's championship, Button has pushed him close in recent races, winning in Hungary and finishing within ten seconds of the race-winning Red Bull in the last three races. Button says that it shows how close McLaren is getting, but that it's still a substantial gap to bridge.

"We are so close to fighting with Red Bull, yet so far, and I think it is good to have the continuity going forward for the next couple of years," Button said. "It will help us take the fight to them next year we hope, that is what we are working towards. It has been a good couple of weeks, I've been enjoying racing and it's nice to sign on the dotted line and get a deal in place for the future."

As the only man still with a mathematical chance of denying Vettel the championship, Button said he felt he was delivering better performances than when he won his title in 2009.

"I thought I had driven pretty well during my championship-winning season... especially the first part. I am definitely a better driver now with the experience I've been through - good and bad - since then. It's pretty traumatic when you're fighting for a championship and struggling for pace, but the difficulties I've been through and the confidence of the team I am working with definitely helps my performances."

Button also said that Suzuka would be a special race to win, and that he was hopeful McLaren would be able to replicate the pace it showed in Belgium.

"I would love to win here; this is a circuit along with Spa and Monaco that is such a challenge. Whether we're quick or not we will have to wait and see, but we are in the hunt and I am looking forward to a fun weekend and hopefully we can get up there.

"I think on occasions we have been on a par with Red Bull, sometimes I felt maybe we had a little bit more performance but we didn't get the best out of what we had. In the last race we were not quick enough to win; Red Bull and Seb did a great job. Here is like Spa, probably with higher downforce, but it's a flowing medium/high speed circuit. The car worked well in Spa and hopefully it will be the same case here."

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