MELBOURNE, Australia — In less than a month, Jenson Button has shifted from the verge of unemployment to race favorite for Sunday’s Formula One season opener in Australia, and the Brawn driver is relishing his remarkable reversal of fortune.
Button has been vaulted into favoritism on the back of the blistering times recorded by F1’s new team in preseason testing after Ross Brawn completed his takeover of the team formerly owned by Honda, which pulled out of F1 amid the global economic downturn.
Button, the 29-year-old Briton, and Rubens Barrichello were out of a job after the Japanese automaker’s exit from the sport in December and the pair didn’t have a confirmed drive this season until Brawn, the former Honda team principal, confirmed a take over on March 5.
“It’s not a pressure, its a nice feeling,” Button said Thursday about his sudden favoritism. “We are coming here with an open mind. Testing is one thing … but in 2006 (Honda) had a quick car in testing and got to the first race and got blown away by Ferrari.
“We will not be slow, but how quick, we will have to see.”
Aside from the doubt about whether its test times get translated into race performance, Brawn must also deal with an ongoing argument over the legality of its bodywork, with rival teams saying it breaches the sport’s new regulations.
Ferrari, BMW, Renault and Red Bull lodged protests Thursday after race stewards approved the design of the rear diffuser and attached bodywork on the cars of Williams, Toyota and Brawn. A hearing was to be held later in the day.
New F1 regulations limit the size of the diffuser, and the protesting teams say Williams, Toyota and Brawn have bent the rules by using bodywork to effectively increase its size.
While that argument rages in the lead-up to Sunday’s race in Melbourne, Brawn was reveling in the limelight of its pre-race favoritism, which in itself is reward for the team’s development work through the offseason despite doubts about whether it would even be on the grid.
Button congratulated the technicians and backroom staff for their dedication in the face of such adversity.
“They knew they were doing a good job and we can see that,” Button said. “They have really put their heart and soul into developing a car for this year.
“We should be the underdogs, being a private team with a customer engine, but looking at the testing times, we are not.”
The traditional powers of the sport such as Ferrari and McLaren are already getting themselves accustomed to the idea of trailing in Brawn’s wake, talking down their chances of success on Sunday.
“The picture from the test is Brawn is better than anybody, so maybe we will fight each other for third place. I hope not,” Ferrari’s Felipe Massa said.
The Ferrari ace missed out on the 2008 championship by just one point, when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton snatched the crown on the last corner of the last lap of the last race.
Massa said his 2008 performance counts for nothing heading into 2009 and is cautious about the reduced aerodynamic grip for the coming season due to changed rules.
“We have a very competitive car like last year and maybe a little bit more reliable, and a very efficient team,” Massa said. “What happened in last year’s championship is finished, we start at zero.
“We lost aerodynamic (grip) from last year. I feel a big difference to drive, especially with the old tires. With the old tires, the car is sliding much more. We need to be more smooth than last year.”
Massa was not about to count out McLaren despite their disappointing showings in preseason testing.
“It’s strange to see McLaren at the back. They are a respectable team, we need to respect them and what they did in the past.”
Hamilton was candidly downbeat about his team’s chances in 2009, fearing their lack of early pace will hurt his title defense.
“We’ll have pretty much the same people up there as last year, except for us obviously,” Hamilton said at a publicity event Thursday. “It’s a great accolade to have, a great title to have next to your name,” Hamilton added of his F1 drivers’ championship. “I’ve reset the targets again. I want to be world champion again, although it will be tough this year.”
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