Jenson ready to press Benetton button

Benetton's Jenson Button is chomping at the bit to unleash his new engine at the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.  

The 21-year-old will finally have an improved Renault engine at his disposal for the qualifying session for Sunday's race.

Button hopes the increase in horse power will propel him up the grid after a difficult start to the season.

"I can't wait for the improved engine," said Button.

"It would be good to get into the top 15 because it has been a difficult year for us so far.

"Hopefully there will be more to come in future races, though it is still not going to be easy for us to score any more points. It is a case of building for next season."

Button, in the first of an expected two-year loan deal at Benetton from Williams, was 17th fastest in opening practice.

The Frome-born racer will again be a spectator as the battle for pole position goes on with David Coulthard not confident about claiming top spot despite being fastest in practice yesterday.

But Coulthard is more hopeful that even if he misses out on pole his McLaren will be a much stronger threat to title rival Michael Schumacher's Ferrari despite last week's result in Germany when he was a distant third.

"We can draw some encouragement from this," said the 30-year-old Scot, who trails Schumacher by 24 points with eight races left.

"It may be difficult to get pole here given the package we have got.

"But I would say a victory is more likely than it was last weekend. We are a bit more upbeat about our chances than we were at the Nurburgring.

"The championship is still on. It is never over until it's mathematically impossible and if we lose this weekend we will just analyse the result and carry on fighting."

Schumacher, seventh fastest in practice, is confident of a repeat of last weekend when he wound up sixth on the opening day but then blitzed pole and went on to claim a 49th victory.

If he can repeat the feat tomorrow he would become only the second man in history to register 50 career wins.

And the man who holds the all-time record of 51 - Frenchman Alain Prost - admits that the tally he established when winning his fourth drivers' crown in 1993 is not long for the books.

"My feeling is that it's going to happen," said Prost. "But I feel that he deserves to have this kind of record. You cannot win more than 50 races if you are not any good and Michael is one of the best of all-time.

"But not many drivers have won more than 50 races and I will be one of them."

Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve (British American Racing) were second and third fastest behind Coulthard yesterday but are unlikely to occupy such lofty heights in qualifying.