NURBURGRING (Germany) - DRIVERS world championship leader Briton Jenson Button is confident he can bounce back to top form in this weekend's German Grand Prix.

After a disappointing outing in his home race at Silverstone last month, the 29-year-old Englishman believes his Mercedes-Benz-powered team will storm back to compete at the front with much-improved Red Bull.

The Red Bull outfit dominated the British Grand Prix with rising German star Sebastian Vettel claiming a memorable victory to press home his own bid to win this year's drivers' title.

Vettel, on home soil this weekend, is also confident that the team can repeat the form that gave them a one-two at Silverstone where Button finished sixth and his Brawn team-mate Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello was third.

Button said: 'My last stint at Silverstone showed that the pace of the car is really competitive - so we're confident that we can turn it around at this race.

'I'm sure we will see a really intense fight with our closest competitors and hopefully a great race for the fans.' In a team preview, he explained: 'With the extra week's break, everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines has been working extremely hard in preparation for the German Grand Prix.

'They want to get the best package for the race and we're looking forward to showing what the car can do at the Nurburgring after a disappointing weekend by our standards at the British Grand Prix.' Team chief Ross Brawn is adamant his team will emerge stronger after their worst weekend of the year so far at Silverstone. Before that, Button had won six out of seven races to create a runaway lead in the championship.

He said: 'We are looking forward to returning to action - and the Nurburgring should be a good circuit for our car and play to its strengths.

'We have several new aerodynamic parts which were not used in qualifying and the race, due to the issues that we faced there, along with additional improvements scheduled for the Nurburgring.

'All of this should position us well going into the weekend. But, we have always said we would have a fight on our hands to maintain our excellent start to the season.' -- AFP