04/02/2010
NEWS STORY
Jenson Button, who finished fifth on his first day of testing with McLaren has warned that it's far too early to read anything into the times, while admitting that he would have liked more time in the car.
While most teams have had both their race drivers on duty this week, McLaren handed over its brand new MP4-25 to test driver Gary Paffett on Monday, leaving Lewis Hamilton and Button with one day apiece. Speaking after his first day's work with his new team, Button admitted that he needs more time in the car, adding that it is far too early to start forming opinions regarding as to who's hot and who's not.
"It's been a long day and it would have been nice to get more testing done," said the Englishman last night. "I've been doing a lot of work making sure I'm comfortable in the car. I wasn't quite where I wanted to be. I was quite high in the car and uncomfortable. I had to change a lot within the car. I fit well now and feel comfortable with my head in the car now."
While he could only finish fifth yesterday, in a car which teammate Hamilton said had him "smiling", some will point to the fact that last year the Brawn was quickest straight out of the box and went on to win six of the first seven races in the world championship. However, Button insists that little should be read into this week's times, particularly at this circuit.
"It's difficult because this is not the best circuit to get a feeling of how the cars going to be during the season," he said. "It's very different to any other circuit to race on, the balance is very different."
With Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa topping the timesheets, both over 0.3s quicker than thewir closest rivals, the Saubers, it is widely speculated the Ferrari is on the brink of a revival.
"We can say that Ferrari are fast but we don't know how fast," said Button. "However, you can't do those times if you're not competitive. But we don't know what fuel they're running when they do those times but their slower runs with high fuel were still reasonably good. But it's wrong to talk about who is quick and who isn't. Everyone will have updates for the first race so it's difficult to read into it."
Furthermore, Red Bull wasn't on duty this week.