Button: McLaren will be stronger down under

Jenson Button is confident that the McLaren team will be challenging closer to the front of the field after a varied start to the season in Bahrain at the weekend. After qualifying eighth in the Middle East, the World Champion finished seventh whereas title predecessor and team-mate Lewis Hamilton made the podium.

After a relatively quiet race in which he was beaten both Ferrari and Mercedes cars as well as Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton, Button admitted his disappointment as he became the fourth consecutive title holder not to win the first race of his title-defending campaign.

"I didn't think, going into qualifying, that Lewis would be fourth on the grid and I would be eighth," Jenson admitted to the British press. "I thought it would be very close – but Lewis did a better job and he was quicker.

"I wasn't pleased with the car that I had in qualifying and there are areas in which I really need to improve so that it suits my style of driving, but my confidence has not been dented."

Jenson is also confident that McLaren's MP4-25 will handle better next time out. "In Melbourne there are slow corners but it's not these really, really slow, second-gear twisty sections," he continued. "I think the car will work better there – it's much quicker than it suggested in qualifying." GPUpdate.net