Jenson Button can already sense this year’s Formula One world title may be beyond his reach after an Australian Grand Prix weekend to forget.
After winning this race three times in the last four seasons, and in the wake of how strongly McLaren finished last year’s campaign, hopes were high the team would start on the front foot.
But after taking a radical approach over the winter with a car the team are struggling to understand, ninth place was something of a minor triumph for Button come the conclusion of the 58-lap race at Melbourne’s Albert Park.
Starting 10th and a woeful three seconds off the pace of pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel, Button finished one minute and 21 seconds adrift of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen by the chequered flag.
With the second race in Malaysia just a week away, the 33-year-old is not anticipating any change by then, and probably not even for the grands prix that follow in China and Bahrain next month.
If McLaren head to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in early May still scratching their heads, Button can kiss goodbye to any hopes of a championship challenge.
Following a tough opening weekend, far removed from his excitement when the car was unveiled at the end of January, Button said: “It was good to get a couple of points, but it doesn’t really ease the pain.
“At this stage we still have to aim for the world championship. That has to be the target when you drive for McLaren.
“But it’s going to be very difficult for us from where we are, a lot harder than we thought this year.
“For us to get back to the front, it’s not going to be whilst we’re racing outside Europe, but we’ve got what we have and we’re going to deal with it the best we can and push hard for improvements.
“With Malaysia next weekend we’re not going to do much before then other than hopefully understand the car a little more and extract a bit more performance.”
Button naturally trusts the team to turn around what is already a dire situation, but he knows it will not be easy.
“There is a lot for us to do, so it’s not something we’re going to change overnight, just hopefully sooner rather than later,” added Button.
For Raikkonen and Lotus, a team that has made progress in relation to last year, there was understandable elation and the suggestion they could be genuine title contenders.
Earlier in the day, as the second and third sessions of qualifying had been held over due to adverse weather on Saturday, Red Bull’s reigning triple world champion Sebastian Vettel blew away the field.
But come the race Vettel’s pace was lacking, while Lotus made a two-stop strategy work for Raikkonen compared to the five cars behind him who all required three.
In the end Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa were second and fourth, sandwiching Vettel, with Lewis Hamilton fifth on his Mercedes debut.
Describing his 20th career win as “one of my easiest”, Raikkonen added: “This feels good, but it’s only one race. It doesn’t change our aim and work for this year, but definitely we are happy with the win.
“There is still an awful lot to do to try to win the championship, but we have had a good car here and hopefully we can have many more of these kind of races.”
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was sixth, with Paul Di Resta eighth in his Force India, while on his F1 debut Marussia’s Max Chilton was 17th.
Leading final positions: 1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1hr 30mins 03.225secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:30:15.676, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:30:25.571, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:30:36.802, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:30:48.786, 6 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:30:50.025, 7 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:31:08.293, 8 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:31:11.674, 9 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:31:24.855, 10 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:31:25.984, 11 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:31:26.592; 17 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia at 2 laps.