Button expected to see McLaren battling against Lotus in 2012

With seven different winners in as many races at the start of the season, the 2012 vintage of the Formula 1 World Championship promised to be one of the most undecided before clearing up and resulting in a duel between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. A luxury referee of this Spanish-German duel, McLaren did much more than just make an appearance this season, although due to a lack of consistency, the team from Woking quickly had to say goodbye to their title hopes.

Yet, at the dawn of the 2012 season, Jenson Button was convinced that it would see McLaren compete with Lotus for the drivers’ and constructors’ titles: “After five races, I thought we would win the championship. We seemed very competitive, and I thought the Lotus team would be extremely good this year. They were consistent but didn’t have the absolute pace,” reveals the Briton according to Autosport.

However, after starting off with a bang in Australia, Malaysia, and China, stepping onto the podium five times, the McLaren drivers then experienced a dip in Bahrain and Spain, allowing their main rivals to take the lead in the championship, which did not, however, diminish Jenson Button’s optimism: « After five races, I would not have said that the Red Bulls were going to win the championship this season, » admits the Frome native.

However, on the evenings of the United States and Brazilian Grand Prix, it was indeed the men from Milton Keynes who were celebrating their victories in the constructors’ and drivers’ championships. The men from Woking, on the other hand, had to settle for third place in the constructors’ standings, behind Ferrari, and fourth and fifth place in the drivers’ championship, behind the returning Kimi Räikkönen. Yet, according to a study conducted by the German magazine Speed Week, based on the fastest laps in the race, McLaren was only 1.8 tenths away from the ideal performance, outpacing Red Bull (3.8 tenths), Lotus (7 tenths), and Ferrari (7.5 tenths).

Unfortunately, McLaren was unable to capitalize on the potential of their car, making multiple errors in the pits and facing reliability issues, with Jenson Button admitting that his team simply did not work well enough: “We are all fighting for the world championship and only one team can win it. Red Bull has done a very good job and won the constructors’ championship while, as for us, I think we still did a good job […]. However, it’s a very competitive sport and we shouldn’t be disappointed with how it went; we just weren’t good enough this year.” And the 2009 world champion added: “[Before the German Grand Prix], we were not up to speed, but with the new developments brought to Hockenheim, we made a lot of progress and maintained that for much of the year. But there is one team that has been faster than us for a long time – that’s Red Bull – more consistent than us, and they have also been more reliable.”

In any case, McLaren is determined to fight for victory in 2013 as Jenson Button is set to take on the role of leader: “We need to make the usual progress over the winter, and Red Bull and Ferrari will be fully focused in this area, just like the other teams – Lotus and Mercedes – who are trying to catch up. But we are confident that we can do what is necessary during the winter and start strong [in 2013],” recently confided Sam Michael, McLaren’s sporting director, in the columns of the Sun. And the Briton added: “We are going to Melbourne to win.”