Button surprised by the pace of the Marussia
As the pre-season tests ended on Sunday, drivers can start to gauge their opponents a bit better. While Mercedes and Williams are named as possible favorites, Jenson Button was surprised by the pace of the Marussia.
The final test days in Bahrain revealed mixed fortunes for the different teams on the grid. The difficulties faced by teams powered by Renault power units were highlighted by the impressive performances of the Mercedes engines, which allowed Force India, McLaren, Mercedes, and Williams to appear at the top of the timesheets.
Jenson Button, who is about to start his fifth year with the McLaren team, says he is lucky to have a German engine behind him: « In a way, I am very happy with the reliability of our cars. In a certain sense, I am surprised. Mercedes has done an excellent job with its new power unit, I really believe that, and it seems that Renault and Ferrari have gained a lot of pace and reliability in recent days. But I am very happy to be with Mercedes at the moment for reliability reasons. »
That said, Ferrari engines are not far from the performance of the Mercedes. That’s at least what Button observed when following the Marussia for a few laps, now powered by an Italian engine, during the recent test days in Bahrain. The speed and pace of Jules Bianchi last Friday, at the wheel of the MR03, somewhat surprised the 2009 world champion: « It’s interesting to realize that in recent days, the developments and updates from various teams have made them gain a second here and there. There are many teams that are strong at the moment. Even following the Marussia, you realize that it is much faster than last year’s car. I think people will be surprised at how competitive they are now. »
Indeed, the best personal time over these four days achieved by Jenson Button (1:36.901) was beaten by Max Chilton with 1:36.835, while Jules Bianchi is just behind the McLaren driver with a time of 1:37.087.
This impression is supported by the very optimistic statements of Max Chilton following these last tests: “I think we can be quite positive for the first race of the season. The new regulations have been a challenge for all the teams and even though we’ve also encountered some issues along the way, we’ve made a lot of progress as well. I don’t want to make predictions because we won’t really know where we stand until qualifying and the race take place in Australia. But I am very optimistic and I think we will be in a good position to make the most of the opportunities that come our way.”
