Jenson Button says he’s feeling well prepared heading to Melbourne, but admits – like everyone else – that he has no idea how the form book looks.
Button has a history of starting the season well, having won the Australian GP three times in recent years.
“Wow, I can’t believe it’s come around already!,” said Button in a team race preview. “It seems like only last week that I was standing on top of the podium in Sao Paulo; I really can’t believe that we’re all getting ready to board flights to Australia. It feels incredible – the time has gone by so quickly.
“One of the most fascinating things about Formula 1 is the way it resets itself each and every winter. I’ve seen every side of that – you can have a terrible winter of testing, then turn up at the first race and be competitive; equally, you can look impressive in winter testing and be nowhere in Melbourne. If you’re lucky, it all comes together in the tests and you hit the ground running at the first race. That’s always the goal.
“This year, I don’t think any team really knows or understands the competitive order. It’s been an extremely hard-to-read winter: varying fuel-loads and levels of tyre degradation mean that it’s hard to accurately predict who’ll arrive in Australia with the best-sorted car. But that’s part of the game.”
Adam Cooper F1 