Schumacher Calm Despite Victory Drought

"I don't think we're going to touch the McLarens or the Renaults. Apart from that I think we'll be okay," the 25-year-old Briton said.

"Compared to Williams and Ferrari and Toyota I think we'll be competitive but Renault and McLaren will be too quick."

Renault and McLaren have shared the victories in the seven races so far this season, with Renault winning five.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso has triumphed four times for Renault and leads McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli by 32 points in the Championship with 12 races remaining.

"The McLaren is just so quick," said Button, who finished third in the San Marino Grand Prix in April but was then disqualified and his team suspended for the next two races for breaking the weight and fuel rules.

"If they (McLaren) don't have any failures or Kimi doesn't lock up his tyres too much here, they should walk it (in Canada)," he added.

"And they will do for the next few races I think."

Points Shocker

"If we're not in the points here I'll be shocked, I really will," continued Button.

"We've got a good or reasonable position in qualifying, we've got a new engine in the car and it's handling a bit more like it should do."

Honda-powered BAR finished as overall runners-up to Ferrari last season, with Button taking 10 podium finishes, but looked slow when they came back from their two race suspension at the Nurburgring.

"We were a long way off the McLarens' pace. About two seconds a lap I think for most of the race, it was huge," said Button. "And the car wasn't handling very well either. We were a little bit confused as to why that was."

He said testing at Silverstone and Monza last week had helped identify some problems.

"We've done all the aero work in Silverstone, from Imola through to Nurburgring. We've found a few bits that didn't work so we've taken them off," said Button.

"Also we tested some new aero parts in Monza with Anthony (Davidson) which worked reasonably well, we have made improvements.

"After the Silverstone test we are a lot more positive. We're not going to set the world alight but we'll be more competitive because we've realised what's actually wrong with the car," said Button.

"The car feels more like a normal car now, it's a lot more stable."