Button expecting 'crazy' strategies

And the McLaren driver admits the teams' work is more difficult this year because of how unpredictable things will be during grands prix.

"I think, looking at testing, we are going to get a lot of very unusual strategies in the race," said Button during a phone-in from the McLaren factory on Monday.

"I think the top teams will have similar strategies. I think you are going to have some teams trying to sort of stop two or three laps before their rivals so they can get out on new tyres and maybe bump them.

"You'll also have the teams that aren't so competitive trying crazy strategies like pitting after lap one and hoping to run to the end of the race. So there will be lots of different strategies which will make it exciting for the viewers and exciting for you guys. But the problem is that for us it's very difficult to know what the strategy is.

"You can't plan in advance. All you can do is go through every scenario and be ready when you have to jump on a strategy change, because it's really dependant on what the people around you are doing with strategy. It's going be a busy Sunday afternoon for the engineers. They have to try and read every situation."

Button believes the need to take care of the tyres now that refuelling is banned will help him, as he feels his smooth style suits the new rules.

"My driving style I think it does work with the new regulations," he said. "I think most drives on the grid can adapt to it, we've seen that in testing. It's still a different way of driving for me because it is like an endurance race.

"It's like driving at Le Mans, you really have to look after the tyres at the start of the stint. If you damage the tyres on lap three you are screwed for the whole stint. You really have to be very gentle with the car.

"Sometimes it just feels like you are driving around, instead of pushing the car, but you can still get a good lap time out of it, which I suppose is a positive. It's going to be an interesting afternoon in Bahrain.

"I think we are going to learn a lot there. We've learned a lot already, but we'll really understand what other people are up to and what sort of strategies are going to work for us for the rest of the year.

And the Briton echoed his team-mate Lewis Hamilton's thoughts about the strength of the McLaren over long runs.

"In Jerez I think Lewis and myself found it reasonably difficult and I think it's because it was so cold. It's difficult to get the tyres working.

"But in Barcelona on my run on Saturday it was still quite difficult because it rained that morning, but I overtook Rubens twice, I overtook Nico, I overtook Pedro, I overtook a lot of people on my long run, so the pace was obviously good.

"Compared to the Ferrari if you look at the race distance we did, we came on top compared to the Ferrari, but again you don't know what they are doing."