• Jerez Test

Ferrari looks fastest - Button

Jenson Button thinks the Ferrari looks dominant at pre-season testing © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Jenson Button
• |
• Michael Schumacher

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• McLaren

Jenson Button reckons Ferrari has stolen a march on its competitors by bringing the fastest car to pre-season testing.

Ferrari topped the timesheets at all three days of the first test in Valencia and have shown consistent pace over the last two weeks in Jerez. Button, who alongside Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari completed a series of long runs during testing on Friday, believes the Italian team has the upper hand.

"I think the Ferrari is very strong," he said. "If you look at their runs today, they're very consistent. I think they have better consistency than anyone at the moment. I think our pace is good, but there are still areas we need to work on for me to be happy with the car."

Button was on track at the same time as Alonso and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes and said the Ferrari looked better.

"I followed a few drivers today, including Fernando and Michael." he added. "It's always interesting to see what's happening, 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 [of fuel] it's understandable. It's interesting. The Ferrari looked good on the circuit, good consistency."

However, he is still happy with the progress McLaren is making with the MP4-25.

"For me, our car over one lap is getting there," Button said. "We're improving step by step. And on the long runs, we're improving every run we do. There's so much information we've got from today - more than any other test day, for me anyway. We'll go through all of that this evening and hopefully have another good day of testing tomorrow [Saturday]."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.