Button predicts very tight qualifying

The Briton, who has started from the top spot in two of the first two races of the season, finished as sixth quickest in today's practice for the Sakhir race.

The top ten was covered by just over half a second, while the whole field was just 1.5 seconds apart, suggesting a thrilling qualifying is likely for tomorrow.

"A pretty standard programme for us today on what has been a very hot Friday in Bahrain," said Button, leading the championship ahead of the Bahrain race.

"We have successfully completed our scheduled test items and evaluated a number of set-up options to find the best balance for our car around this track.

"The heat is intense however we are well prepared for this and looking forward to the novelty of a dry race weekend. The pace looks good from our initial evaluations and I am sure it will be a closely fought battle in qualifying tomorrow."

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished down in ninth position, the Brazilian saying he had problems to find the right balance for his Brawn car.

"We had different set-ups running on both cars today to gather as much information as possible and compensate for our lack of testing before the season began," Barrichello said.

"It's very hot here in Bahrain obviously and it was quite difficult to find a good balance today but overall I am comfortable with the work that we have achieved.

"We are running quite competitively but have further work to do before qualifying tomorrow as other cars around us were also quick."