Button Impressed by New McLaren

Briton Jenson Button predicted that McLaren will pose a major threat to his hopes of winning Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone after Kimi Raikkonen went quickest in Friday's practice.

Button, the BAR-Honda driver hoping to score his maiden Grand Prix victory on home soil, ended fifth quickest as Raikkonen underlined the potential of McLaren's new MP4-19B car, which debuted in France last week.

With Raikkonen's teammate David Coulthard fourth fastest, Button expects the McLaren pair to have a major say in the outcome of qualifying on Saturday and then Sunday's Silverstone race.

"The McLaren is impressive," Button said. "To be third on the grid at Magny-Cours in the new car was a good step forward. Their race was then pretty strong considering it was their first and they are going to be a threat here."

But Button accepts that Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, winner of nine of the 10 races this season, will once again be the man to beat - despite the World Champion being nudged into third in practice by Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella.

"I am not sure if Ferrari are that worried about anyone really because they are very strong around here, we saw that in testing," Button said. "Ferrari are the team to beat and it is going to be difficult for anyone. We are obviously trying our best to achieve that for this race. It is tough here because Ferrari are very strong.

"We are just doing all we can and we need to concentrate more on our work than worrying too much about the Ferraris. There is a lot of competition now. The McLarens are strong, I don't really know what the Williams were doing today but they will be strong and also the Renaults."