Speaking from the paddock in Shanghai, McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are confident that they can put Red Bull under pressure in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton was present at the drivers' press conference on Thursday afternoon, where he told the assembled media that the weather in China should suit the MP4-26.

"The temperatures are better here," the 2008 champion said, "so the car, I am sure, will be better this weekend than it was last weekend."

But, he acknowledged, Red Bull were also likely to benefit from the cooler temperatures in Shanghai.

"My guess is in the last race they had to probably cool their car a lot more so they probably lost a bit of time there," Hamilton said. "Whether or not they had as good a KERS or as much KERS as us I don't really know. It was close there but I am sure that they will be back on top form this weekend and have even more pace than they did in the last race.

"Whether or not we will be as close as we were in the last race we will find out here," he continued. "Race pace tends to be quite similar to theirs, it is just generally in qualifying they seem to have an advantage."

Jenson Button agrees that the two teams appear to be similar on race pace.

"If we get a nice clean race start, we could have a fun race and I think the pace [between McLaren and Red Bull] will be reasonably similar," the Somerset driver said from the Shanghai paddock. "I finished three seconds behind him [in Malaysia] but he definitely slowed down at the end of the race, but I don't think he did on every lap. Our pace was quite similar."

Button is also confident that McLaren can make greater leaps forward than Red Bull, which could give them the edge in the championship.

"I think that we probably can make more headway than Red Bull, because of not really completely knowing our car and not having the perfect set-up over the past couple of races," he added. "Also we have some updates here; I don't know if Red Bull has."

But, the elder British driver said, "it's not just about the updates. It's about fine-tuning what we have already. [Friday's] going to be a busy day."

McLaren have been talking the talk all week, with the Woking team's pre-race preview focused on the taurine-powered opposition.

"We've made no secret of our desire to take the fight to Red Bull," Button said, "and we're fully aware that stronger opposition will make it harder for them to have a smooth and uninterrupted weekend. As we expected, Malaysia showed that the sharp-end of the grid is incredibly competitive."

Speaking earlier this week, Hamilton said "I think we have the pace to continue taking the battle to Red Bull this weekend. In both races, we've seen that Red Bull hasn't been able to achieve its full potential, and I think it's important that we keep applying the pressure to make sure they can't afford to make mistakes."

After all this tough talk, it remains to be seen whether or not McLaren will be able to deliver this weekend. While a third consecutive podium wouldn't hurt team morale, it's hard to escape the feeling that Woking will only be truly satisfied with a win.