Button Encouraged by Strong Start

BAR's strategy of retiring their cars in Melbourne to enable Button and Japan's Takuma Sato to change engines without penalty appeared to be paying off with Button fifth fastest in the morning and eighth in the afternoon.

"The first day of running here is always a bit of a body shock with the temperature inside the cockpit reaching well over 50°C," said the BAR driver.

"All in all I think we've made a good start to the weekend. We've had quite a productive day, completing all of the testing that we planned to and focusing on tyre comparisons and aerodynamic adjustments. We've gathered a lot of data which we'll look over this evening and I think we should expect another positive day tomorrow."

Sato was also happy with his day's work after finishing in 14th place in the afternoon session.

"It was good to get as many laps in as we planned today without any car issues," said Sato. "I had to back off a bit on my quick laps because of the yellow flags but generally the car balance was good and we have some valuable data for the tyres.

"It was really hot inside the cockpit so it is going to be a tough race on Sunday, but we are looking good so far."