Button high hopes in Valencia

Speaking at the FIA drivers' press conference held in the Valencia paddock on Thursday, championship leader Jenson Button advised that his team is fairly certain of having pinpointed the Brawn BGP 001's weak spot.

"We think we know where we went wrong," he said. "We think we know a hundred percent where we've gone wrong but until you get on to the circuit and test it you never know."

Over the course of three races, the Brawn GP car has lost the dominant edge it previously held over its rivals as problems reportedly related to the car's difficulty in bringing the tyres up to their prime operating temperature have seen both Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello lose points to the competition.

Problems arose following updates, and Button revealed that team engineers have considered reverting back to previous configurations as they work on new solutions.

"I think we understand the car much better than we did one or two races ago," he said. "It looks positive and we have got to hope when we get onto the circuit tomorrow that it feels positive and it is not just what we see in the data.

"We can be strong again," Button insisted. "This car is not bad. I think that we have just maybe gone slightly in the wrong direction. But we will pick up our pace for sure."

With seven races remaing on the 2009 calendar - including this weekend's European Grand Prix - Button still holds an 18.5-point lead over his closest rival.

However the Brawn driver is very much aware that Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have scored at least twice the amount of points he has over the last three events.

Since the British Grand Prix, Button has collected nine points while Webber claimed 24 and Vettel 18 despite retiring once.

"We can't finish off of the podium," Button stated. "We need to be on the podium as often as possible but it is very, very competitive now. You haven't just got the Red Bulls who are strong. You have got the McLarens, the Ferraris, the Renaults and even the Williams has been competitive. Nico (Rosberg) has finished in front of me the last three races, so we need to get back on top of it.

"I have got an 18.5-point lead but that could disappear very quickly," the Briton continued. "We are not going to get too worried, we are just going to stay positive and work out our issues as we do have an advantage.

"18.5 points is quite a bit but we need to make sure that we go into this race and we have a positive attitude and hope that we can get back to the front again," Button added.