Button confident of Sepang success

31 March,2009 11:46 AM IST |   |  PA Sport

After winning season-opening F1 race, Brawn GP driver now looks ahead to this Sunday's outing in Malaysia


Jenson Button heads to Malaysia this weekend seeking perfection. That might appear surprising after his pole-to-flag win in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in which he led home teammate Rubens Barrichello on a historic day for the newly-formed Brawn GP.

After being strong throughout practice and dominating qualifying, it was only a mistake off the start line from veteran Barrichello that denied the team a more emphatic look to the weekend.

However, the majority of the paddock are in agreement the car is in a league of its own, and in danger of dominating for most of the season. But Button concedes not everything is as rosy as it appears, and by that token there is considerable scope for improvement, and hope for their rivals.

"We've just got to take every lap as it comes," said Button, in the wake of only the second victory of his 154-race career.

"So I'm not looking forward to the race (on Sunday), instead I'm looking forward to getting back in the car and building it into something even more special because we're not there yet. It's not perfect and we certainly didn't get the best out of it over the weekend. Although I won the race, you only have to look at our pitstops. I think I was six seconds (too long) in the second stop. So there are a few areas we are weak in, and that was always going to be the case because we barely did any testing. It's been very difficult for everyone to be perfect, but there's room for improvement, and that's what I'm looking forward to achieving. For now, we need to get the best out of everything, which we haven't done. But it's nice to have had not quite the perfect weekend, yet come away with a pole and a win."

For the first time in his career, Button heads into a grand prix as world championship leader, and for only the second time as a winner of a race. For the 29-year-old, there is a bit of novelty about that, causing a few sleepless nights - but for all the right reasons after years spent worrying about an undriveable Honda.

"It's a great feeling," added Button.

"The problem is it's difficult to plan these days because you get so excited and you find it difficult getting to sleep. But hopefully that will pass. It's a nice problem to have."

Among those bemoaning Brawn's pace is last season's runner-up Felipe Massa and double world champion Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari have even suggested they will struggle to close the gap, but a dismissive Button added: "I don't believe that at all. They will say that, but with the new regulations, they're new to everyone and I think people will start making big leaps forward. I don't know if its going to be at the away races (Malaysia, China and Bahrain), but when we return to Europe I think a lot of people are going to have (new) aero packages and they'll be on our tail."

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Formula One Brawn GP Jenson Button Sepang Malaysia