Jenson Button not ruling out McLaren victory in India despite Red Bull and Ferrari's pace

Ferrari's Felipe Massa led the way in the afternoon session at the Buddh circuit, ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and the second Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, with the McLarens fourth and sixth - although Lewis Hamilton had been quickest for the Woking team in the morning.

Button said he was remaining upbeat even though the initial indications were not completely encouraging for McLaren.

"We're going to hopefully fight for a win this weekend," he said. "Whether we're quick enough or not, we'll hopefully find out on Sunday. But that's obviously what we're working towards now.

"And if we're sat here saying that we're going to finish third or fourth, that's a little bit negative, so we're going to be positive."

He acknowledged that Ferrari's speed looked impressive, but felt the one-second gap between his sixth place and Massa's time-topping 1m25.706s lap was not representative.

"I think the Ferrari is very fast. Whether they're that much quicker, I don't know," said Button.

"I don't know what Lewis did on his lap, but on my best lap I lost about three tenths with traffic in the last sector. And on my new tyre run I tried a set-up change that didn't work for me.

"We went back for the long run and on the long run the car felt great for me. I was very happy with the pace."

The Briton therefore expects a three-way fight this weekend.

"Red Bulls are always quick, even if they don't look good on a Friday or Saturday morning, they're quick over the weekend," said Button.

"Ferrari are surprisingly quick - they're going to be very competitive this weekend so it will be a big challenge to fight both Red Bulls and both Ferraris."

Button added that he had been extremely impressed with the Buddh track, which has received a generally positive welcome from the F1 fraternity this weekend.

"I don't know if I'd put it in the same bracket as Suzuka or Spa yet, but I've really enjoyed driving around here," he said.

"It's fast, it's flowing. Apart from there being a lot of dust everywhere, I think they've done a great job with the actual layout."