• McLaren

New engines sound good - Button

Jenson Button says fans will not be disappointed when they hear the sound of the V6 turbos for the first time.

The naturally aspirated V8s used in Formula One since 2006 have been replaced this year by more efficient, turbocharged engines. The new 1.6-litre V6s will rev to 15,000rpm, 3,000rpm lower than the peaky 18,000rpm V8s, and will have a single exhaust pipe via a single turbocharger.

But following the launch of the new McLaren MP4-29, Button said he thinks the new cars still sound good.

"Everyone is talking about how the engine will sound compared to a V8 and it won't sound the same, of course not," he said. "From what I've heard it still sounds pretty good. It's a real mix of sounds because you've got the turbo, so it's quite an unusual sound. But I like it, it sounds good. But it's not important for me to like the sound, it's important for me to have a car that I can win with. For the fans it's still going to sound good and the racing on the circuit this year, I think, is going to be better than ever. I really do."

With all the changes to the powertrain, Button suspects none of the teams will go into the 2014 season fully confident in the car they have developed.

"I don't think anybody will be coming out of this first test feeling certain that they've cracked this new formula. I think it'll be more of a case of slowly peeling away successive layers as the engineers and designers gather more information and gain an understanding of how the cars and power-units are behaving; and we'll see that being gradually refined throughout the forthcoming tests and into the opening races.

"I think this formula is too big, and too complex, for a single team to feel secure about getting everything right and quickly establishing an advantage. It's about diligently chipping away at it that we'll get there."

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