• 'I feel we are making good progress with the car,' says Button
• Last year's runner-up: 'The field will be bunched up a lot more'
Jenson Button is confident that the new McLaren, upgraded in Barcelona on Saturday, can challenge Red Bull for the Formula One world championship, which starts in Melbourne on Sunday week.
Button, who worked on the team's simulator at Woking on Monday before flying to Germany – homeland of the double world champion Sebastian Vettel – for sponsorship work on Tuesday, said: "I'm very happy with the direction we've taken with the car and with the package we have.
"We don't need more bits. We've got it all on the car already. I'm a lot happier with everything compared with last year. We're not running round scratching our heads wondering what we'd done wrong.
"Last year we had problems with the exhaust. We also had the problem that we just weren't very fast, even when the exhaust did work. Maybe that was kept secret. But we just weren't very fast."
Last year McLaren hit the ground walking. A lack of mileage in testing meant that their uncompetitive car spent all season playing catch-up with Red Bull. By the end of the season they had almost got there, but by then it was too late.
Button, hit by hydraulics problems and then rain, was frustrated by a lack of mileage again on Saturday, the penultimate day of the third and final testing session and his last run in the car before Melbourne.
But he said: "We've had a good winter in terms of reliability, most of the time, apart from Saturday. And I feel we are making good progress with the car. There's nothing I'm afraid of with the balance of the car. It listens to changes, which is really important with a motor car."
The centre of attention in Barcelona at the weekend was a major new upgrade brought in by Red Bull. But Button still looked upbeat when he said: "It's great that they've brought a big upgrade because it takes everyone's attention off our car.
"They seem to have a very different rear-end system than they had before. But just having different pieces of bodywork doesn't mean it's a massive chunk of laptime. They'll be quick but we don't know how quick."
But Button, last year's runner-up and one of six world champions on this year's grid, is not writing off Ferrari despite a difficult pre-season for the Italian giants.
He said: "I'm sure Ferrari can find their way out of a sticky situation – if they're in a sticky situation. I don't really know where they are in terms of pace.
"We're all trying new things at the start of the year. One of us will get it right and I'm sure the others will follow suit in the end. They're obviously on the back foot but I'm sure they'll catch up. They have the resources, they have the expertise and they really want and need a good season in 2012.
"We had such a bad winter last year. Then again we got to the first race and Lewis finished second. So we had a good result. Winter testing is a strange one. We all like a challenge from Ferrari. It's a fantastic team. They've achieved so much."
Last year, when Ferrari were again out of sorts and team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered his worst season in F1 – on and away from the track – Button looked the best all-round driver and the one most likely to break Vettel's dominance.
Britain's last world champion – he was a winner with Brawn in 2009 – added: "Last year was a good year but I didn't need it to make me feel confident in my ability. The first year with a team is always difficult especially when you have spent so many years with another one.
"I was with my previous team for seven years. Initially it was pretty difficult. But I feel that I had a pretty good input into last year's car. It felt like my own and not somebody else's."
Taking a final look at the coming season he said: "Sebastian Vettel is the favourite because he is the double world champion. But I feel that the field will be bunched up a lot more now. Red Bull won't have the advantage they had out of the blocks last season."