Button hoping for dry Bahrain race

Button was leading in Malaysia when the race was red-flagged and consolidated his points advantage with third place in China last week, but believes that predictable conditions will give him the best chance to get the most out of his car.

"I am hoping for a nice dry weekend with hopefully no sandstorms," said Button. "It's supposed to be very hot and we have just got to get the best out of what we have.

"Some other teams will have some new parts and I don't know how effective they will be, so we have got to hope that we are still at the front.

"We want to get the maximum out of the car, not have any slip-ups and if we do I think we'll have a good weekend."

Button added that he hoped that he would be the favourite in the race, but that the progress made by Brawn's rivals means that the team cannot afford to make any mistakes.

"I hope so," said Button when asked if he believed that he was favourite for victory. "Our car has worked well all season in the dry, in the wet not so much, so we have to see what upgrades the others have.

"We don't have any here and we need to get the maximum out. We didn't do that in the wet in China and, in the dry, we are missing in a few areas. But if everything comes together we should have a good weekend.

"We suffered with getting temperature in the tyres in China. Here it will be very hot, might even go outside the working range but if we can keep in it we won't have problems with it at all.

"The two tyres we have here are good tyres for the circuit and we should have no massive issues like graining or getting them in their working range."

Button believes that Red Bull and Toyota will be Brawn's closest challengers, although dry conditions could give him an edge.

In qualifying in China, he and team-mate Rubens Barrichello were, fuel-corrected, fastest in Q3, although Button thinks that the Red Bulls are ahead in the wet.

"They were quick in China and outstandingly quick in the wet. In the dry, I don't know. In qualifying, fuel corrected, I think Rubens would have been on pole, I would have been second and the Red Bulls would have been fourth and fifth.

"In Q2 they were quicker than us by three tenths but it was closer in Q3 and we had a slight advantage over Jarno Trulli and the Red Bulls. So you'd say it's the Toyotas and Red Bulls and I'm not sure which driver in each team - we'll have to wait and see.

"They are the two teams we'll be looking out for, and Flavio Briatore says Renault are going to be up there as well."