Jenson Button calms expectations for Silverstone after Austrian result

Jenson Button has moved to calm expectations ahead of his home race at Silverstone, following one of McLaren's most successful race weekend's since reuniting with Honda.

Button started third on the grid in Austria having qualified fifth, with penalties for Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel demoting them behind the McLaren driver, and went on to finish sixth, although at one point in the race he had been as high as second.

Although admitting a podium finish at Silverstone is one of his last goals in the sport, he has warned fans not to get their hopes up for such a strong performance, despite his showing at the Red Bull Ring.

"Finishing on the podium at the British Grand Prix is top of my ‘to do’ list in F1. I’ve achieved pretty much everything else that I set out to do in F1, but I’ve never stood on the podium at Silverstone. I really want to do that and it would feel like a victory if I were to achieve it," said Button.

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"Of course, the result in Austria last week really motivates everybody, and it raises everyone’s expectations, too. It would be lovely to be able to claim that a podium this year might finally be possible, but, being realistic, that won’t be possible this time."

Despite that, Button insists he will give it his all to deliver a special result for the British fans.

"I head to Silverstone feeling hugely encouraged by our progress, and just what we can achieve as a team when the variables are thrown into the air and all the teams are left to somewhat improvise: we can do great things.

"It goes without saying that I’ll be giving it everything at Silverstone this weekend."

Team boss Eric Boullier echoed Button's cautious thoughts, but admitted he had high hopes on the back of a strong weekend in Austria.

"This year we do battle with a much improved MP4-31," he added. "Jenson’s result in Austria showed that, when everything comes together, we can perform operationally at a high standard; but, equally, the issues that affected Fernando on both Saturday and Sunday show that we still need to raise our game on every front.

"It’s important to remember that we were able to punch above our weight in Austria, but, with so many McLaren-Honda fans in the crowd this weekend, we’ll be doing our best to pull another strong result out of the bag."