Jenson Button Believes Upgrades Are Needed

Jenson Button has called on his team to make the upgrades needed for McLaren to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari for the rest of the season.

Both McLaren drivers were well off the pace at the European Grand Prix in Valencia this weekend with neither Button nor Lewis Hamilton making the podium.

Hamilton finished fourth with Button two places behind in sixth while Sebastian Vettel won the race with Fernando Alonso in second and Mark Webber in third.

Button did have some KERS problems but both cars lacked the pace of their Red Bull and Ferarri rivals.

Speaking to Sky Sports Button said: "We've got a bit of work to do, We've got to hope for some good upgrades because here we fell behind compared to Red Bull.

"There is a big gap behind us, but this isn't the place we want to be. We want to be challenging those two teams, but at the moment it is a bit difficult.

"We expected to be stronger against Ferrari, and not be far off the Red Bull, but the reality was very different.

"So we need the upgrades for Silverstone otherwise we're not going to be fighting Ferrari and Red Bull, which will be a shame at my home grand prix.

"At the moment Silverstone is not going to be a better circuit for us, so we need the upgrades to really challenge the cars in front.

"We can take some risks with some new parts and hopefully we'll have that when we get there, so we need to get our heads down and improve the car, the package.

"Aerodynamically we are not moving forward, and that's what we need to be concentrating on."

Button lies in joint second place with Webber but they are both seventy seven points behind Vettel.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw