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Jenson Button is confident that both he and his McLaren team can still fight their way to the 2010 title, despite a recent run of mixed results that have seen them lose their early-season points advantage.

Button and McLaren suffered a weekend to forget in Hungary, with Button only able to finish eighth, while world champion team-mate Hamilton was forced to retire with gearbox failure.

That leaves McLaren second in the constructors’ championship, eight points behind Red Bull. Reigning world champion Button is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings, 14 points off Red Bull’s resurgent Mark Webber, with Hamilton second, four points off the lead.

However, Button says the title fight is still wide open going in the final seven races of the season, particularly if McLaren recovers its impressive early-season form that allowed the British team to outperform Red Bull in the races.

“Despite Sunday’s result [in Hungary], I’m still only 14 points behind the championship leader,” Button said. “That’s about six points in old money, so it’s all to play for.

“It’s fantastic to have scored two wins and three podiums, and to still be in the thick of the fight for the world championship.

“That’s why I joined this team. Lewis and I are still very much in the hunt, even if the last few races haven’t seemed to favour our car as much as they did earlier this year.

“Clearly we have some work to do to close the gap to the front. But I know the strength of this team, and our determination and ambition to hit back.

“We have some work to do to close the gap to the front. But I know how hard everyone is working to make that happen, and I’m confident we’ll be back in the hunt sooner rather than later.”

McLaren is due to introduce its next major upgrade for the high-speed Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and Button is confident that the team will continue to gain pace into the end-of-season long-haul races in the far-east, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“I’m confident we’ll be more competitive in both Spa and Monza, with more to come once we head off for the fly-aways,” Button said. “Just by looking at the championship tables, and how close they are, it’s clear that every point definitely helps.” ITV-F1