McLaren, Jenson Button: “I can have a good race despite the penalty”

Jenson Button is convinced that his McLaren is fast enough to still have a strong race in Japan, despite the penalty for replacing the gearbox on the car which drops him to eighth place on the starting grid.

Button, who recorded the third fastest time in the qualifying session behind the two Red Bulls, suffered a five-place grid penalty for the gearbox replacement.

“Third place would have been nice to start the race, but with this race you don't know what will happen,” he said.

“It's not the easiest place to start but I think we can run from there too.”

“The balance was fantastic and I feel comfortable with the car. I got the most out of the car but we are still quite far from these two Red Bulls.”

With both the Saubers and Lotuses ahead, Button is optimistic about his chances of making up places.

“It's an unusual group of cars up front, so we should get some points,” Button said.

However, the Englishman fears that his McLaren doesn't have the pace to challenge the two Red Bulls.

“I think we expected to be fast here. Their race pace has been fast in the last few races and they are fast here too,” said Button.