Reigning champion Jenson Button has bullishly yelled that he is still right in the middle of the race for the title this season, despite slipping some 25 points of the top of the standings after another disappointing outing in Singapore.
Button finished a distant fourth in Singapore, with the McLaren car unable to live with the pace of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari or Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.
The result leaves him 25 points behind Mark Webber in the standings, the same as a full race win, with four race weekends left in the 2010 championship.
But he told his official website on Wednesday that he was still "confident" about his title chances, saying that he was "right in the hunt" for the championship still.
"[I'm feeling] Confident. Relaxed. Happy," he grinned, "I can put it in perspective: for the second year running, I'm right in the hunt for the world championship.
"I'm already the world champion and I've still got every chance of holding on to my title. That's what I'm in Formula 1 to do, and that's why I signed for [sponsor's name] McLaren Mercedes; to have that opportunity."
He added that the fact that he lagged behind the Ferrari and Red Bull cars in Singapore was not a major concern, with the high downforce levels of the street track meaning that the team was always likely to struggle over the course of a race, and suggested that the MP4-25 car would be much stronger over the final four weekends.
"It was a little disappointing to see that we probably didn't have enough pace to take the fight to the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, but that was to be expected, really," he shrugged.
"Singapore is one of the highest downforce tracks on the calendar, so it's not a place where our car would really excel."
He added that: "I think the next four races will be very interesting, they'll certainly play more to our strengths."
When asked if he felt that the Singapore race had been a pivotal one for the five-way 2010 title battle, with both McLarens losing ground to their rivals, he suggested that no one race would be.
"It's funny, because every race we go to seems to be called a 'pivotal' race - and, while every result is obviously important, I don't think you'd say that any one race is really pivotal to your title campaign - it's more about the pace you carry across the balance of the season," Button rambled.
"And, funnily enough, I think Singapore showed that it will probably actually take a couple of races to have a more significant impact on the overall standings.
"Okay, Fernando's had two good races, and is right in the thick of things, but Lewis [Hamilton] has retired from the last two races, and he's still right there, and both Sebastian and me are ready to strike."
He added that the new 2010 points system had "amplified" the way observers looked at the standings, pointing out that though the gaps seemed large, they still translated as just a single race win.
"I think the new points systems has definitely amplified what people think of the standings, but I've always imagined the points as they would have been under last year's system," he mused.
"So, in old money, I'm 10 points off Mark, and Lewis is about eight or nine behind him. And, with four races to go, that's not much at all."
He added: "When you say you're 25 points off the lead, that sounds a lot - but it's just easier for me to reference it by the old system. It makes it seem easier to understand and compute, too.
"So, as I said, there's not going to be one pivotal race, except perhaps for the final one, it's just about taking home the points every weekend."
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