Interview with Jenson Button

There is a lot of talk about tires that wear out very quickly. What is your opinion?

This afternoon, we did long stints to better understand the tires. There is a lot of degradation as everyone knows. And no matter what you try to do, the result is the same. I tried to take it easy on the tires, there was graining. I pushed harder, and there was still graining. You know it’s the worst situation for the tires because it’s cold and the track is very abrasive. I think we will have graining [in Melbourne] but I don’t believe it will be as significant as here, I hope it won’t be. The next tests will be important. The first year with Pirelli was tricky because there was a lot of graining. Last year, it took us six or seven months to really understand the tires. This year, there is more graining than in 2012, but they are easier to understand. It’s simpler to make them work with the car.

At Jerez you said that this car [the MP4-28] was a new concept because you needed more leeway for future developments. If you look at the Red Bull, which is an evolution of the RB8, do you think they can surprise and dominate the season?

It will be a very interesting season. There aren’t many changes in the regulations. If we started the season with the McLaren MP4-27 with a few changes, I think we would have arrived with a very good car for the first race. Better than the MP4-28? I don’t know, but it would have been very strong. But after a few races, we would be at the limit of what we can do in terms of development. For us, it was important to change the car over the winter to take a new direction in development throughout the year. It’s a long season with 19 Grand Prix, and we need to be competitive throughout the championship. I hope we will be competitive in Melbourne; it’s a track I enjoy and where I’ve put in strong performances in recent years. But it’s also possible that teams that have simply evolved their last year’s car will be competitive as well.

What is your feeling about the new car?

It’s difficult to understand where the car stands. Sometimes it behaves well and other times it doesn’t. We need to understand it better and ensure it performs as we expect. That hasn’t always been the case. Today, I did a lap in 1:22.840 on hard tires, which isn’t bad considering the amount of fuel on board. Sergio did 1:21.848 with the softs, which is a good lap as well. We don’t know where we stand, and it’s not constructive to try and see where we are compared to others. We need to sort out our own issues to extract the maximum from our car. The feeling is good but we need to be more consistent.

Yesterday, Sergio [Pérez] said there could be races with seven or even eight pit stops. What do you think?

We won’t have enough tires, so we’ll have to make them last [laughs]. I think we’ll see tough races with many pit stops, but there could also be Grand Prix with two stops. I don’t think we’ll see races with only one pit stop this year. I think we’ll have a good idea of the situation after the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, so we won’t really have any surprises during the race.

From our special correspondent in Barcelona