Button non-committal on McLaren pace

Jenson Button took over the new McLaren Mercedes for the third and final day of testing Valencia yesterday and ended the day fifth fastest, 1.5 seconds off the pace of Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

It was the defending champion’s first test with McLaren and he admits it took some time to get comfortable in the car and to find his way around the various controls. His best lap was seven-tenths shy of team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s Tuesday best but, as yet, Button is not making assumptions other than Ferrari seem quick.

"I think you can say that Ferrari are fast, but we don’t know how fast," Button told Autosport. "They can’t do that time if they are not competitive, but you never know what fuel they are running when they do that time. Their slower runs, which I’m guessing were using a lot higher fuel, were still reasonably good so I guess they are fast.

"But this is the wrong place for us to be thinking about who is quick and who isn’t," he continued. "I’m guessing everyone is going to be having updates for the first race anyway and with the difference in fuel loads, you could be running 10 kilos or 160 kilos, so there is a massive difference and it is difficult to read into it.

"At the next test we might have more of an understanding when people are running very different fuel loads, and you can get an understanding of the difference of those loads and how much time per 10 kilos it is. Then you can work out who is quick and who isn’t. But at the moment it is important for us to put our blinkers on and work with our car and improve it."