Jenson Button says McLaren have a lot to look forward forward to in 2013

A "massively motivated" Jenson Button believes he and McLaren have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about 2013 as they continue to gear up for the new season.

With Hamilton now at Mercedes, Button is joined in McLaren's line-up by the 22-year-old Sergio Perez and the team's elder statesman is confident they are set to form a "very strong partnership". "We all saw what he was capable of doing behind the wheel of a Sauber last year and I think he's a very good addition to this team," Button predicted. "The most important thing is that you have a good working relationship, that you can share ideas and information freely and that you're working together with the engineers for the good of the team. That's never been an issue at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and I think we're going to work well together - Checo may only be 22, but he's very sensible and he knows what's needed to get the most from the car, so I predict it'll be a very strong partnership." With relative rules stability over the winter, McLaren should be well placed to challenge for the World Championship once again in 2013 having gone into the winter with back-to-back wins in Austin and Brazil. Pirelli have promised to renew their aggressive approach to tyre choices in the new season but Button, who struggled with warm-up issues last year, doesn't think teams are set for a repeat of the tyre conundrum that defined the early races of 2012. "I think all the teams will go into this season feeling more assured about the Pirelli tyres," he added. "As you know, last year was a bit of an unknown as we all got to grips with the new rubber, but that's less likely to happen this time around, so there's more stability there. There are differences to the tyres - the shape and the compounds, but I don't think they'll be as fundamental to the overall car performance as they were last year."