Jenson Button will put the season-opening Bahrain GP behind him to renew his rivalry with his closest competitors in Melbourne.
World champion ready for tight Melbourne race
Jenson Button will put his seventh place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix behind him to renew his rivalry with his closest competitors in Melbourne.
The world champion finished four places behind his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the middle east last weekend, but is geared up to close the gap on the front runners in Australia.
Button has happy memories from Albert Park last year, having won the race in Brawn GP's first outing of 2009, with his then team-mate Rubens Barricello finishing second and Hamilton third.
However the 30-year-old is expecting a close encounter in Melbourne, and will look to take last year's success into this weekend.
Button said: "I think we'll be a lot closer here. This circuit should suit as well.
"Lewis has had a good time here before and also I have so hopefully we can get a good result.
"Last year was a fairytale race for me. I took pole and victory, which was one of the most satisfying and emotional moments of my career."
The McLaren driver echoes the recent criticism on the new ban preventing refuelling that led some people into resembling the last race as a "mere procession."
Improve
He said: "The last race was not the most exciting from a fan's point of view.
"I think we can improve it and it takes all of us to look at what happened and not get too worried about it and hope that this race is better.
"We all need to work on improving the spectacle if it's not there -- but hopefully it will be."
Nevertheless, Button is confident ahead of the second race of the season after accustoming to his new car last time out.
He said: "We learnt some very useful lessons in the opening race, and the whole team is keen to put them into practice this weekend."
