Button Says Ferrari Strongest in Testing

After the first 3 tests of the off-season – the last of which will conclude today, at Jerez – reigning Formula One champion Jenson Button has no doubt in his mind about the team to beat in 2010. As far as the 30-year old driver is concerned, Ferrari currently benefit from the strongest package in testing, as the F10 is by far the most consistent car of the pack.

Fernando Alonso yesterday did 132 laps on the Jerez circuit and scored the second best time of the day – more than 8 tenths of a second behind Red Bull’s Mark Webber – yet Button believes what Ferrari has at the moment and other teams don’t is consistency in good results.

“I think the Ferrari is a very strong car. If you look at their runs today, they're very consistent. I think they have better consistency than anyone at the moment. It's always interesting to observe what they're up to. I think our pace is good, but there are still areas we need to work on for me to be happy with the car,” said Button.

Spending the entire day testing alongside Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher – two main contenders for the world title this year – Button revealed his first impressions on their rivals.

“You never know what fuel loads people are on but you can see what sort of balance they have. The Mercedes to me seemed like it was a little bit twitchy at the rear, and braking it looked like it was locking the rears, but if they're on 150kg it's understandable. It's interesting. The Ferrari looked good on the circuit, good consistency,” said Button.

Although scoring the 3rd best time of the day on Friday, Button admitted he is not yet pleased with how his MP4-25 is doing on the track, but revealed the development work on the car is heading into the right direction.