Brawn predicts BAR threat

BAR driver Jenson Button scored his second consecutive podium finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, although Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams was ahead of Button on the road until he hit gearbox problems in the final stint of the race.

BAR is still very much in the early days of its relationship with tyre supplier Michelin, and technical director Geoff Willis admitted that the team showed its lack of experience on the tyres by qualifying fifth and sixth after being quickest in Saturday's free practice.

Button's fastest race lap was 0.01s quicker than Montoya, indicating that they were very evenly matched, although Fernando Alonso lapped 0.3s quicker than either man on his run through the field from the back on what became two-stop fuel loads after his first-lap pit visit for a new nose.

Speaking about BAR's emergence, Brawn said: "The consistency is the thing. That's where they'll improve next. If you look at Jenson's times in the middle and second part of the race, he was very competitive, he just had a relatively poor first stint [Button lost a place to Trulli off the line and then had understeer, which the team cured with a front wing change at the first stop].

"They're going to be a threat," Brawn added. "In some ways they look to be the coming threat of the Michelin tyre teams because their main competitors are having a difficult time at the moment. It looks like Honda have done a much better job going and I'm sure Geoff [Willis] was able to tell Honda what they really had to achieve. I think they're doing a great job."