Button cautious despite good practice

Jenson Button is refusing to be fooled by today’s practice times at the Nurburgring, insisting Ferrari and Michael Schumacher are still favourites for the European Grand Prix.

The Englishman was second quickest in second practice as McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen surprisingly set the pace.

World champion Schumacher, who was beaten for the first time this season at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, was a lowly ninth after putting his feet up for much of a session in which he only registered nine laps.

The only time Raikkonen has previously topped a session this season was in Malaysia where he showed well in practice and qualified fifth before a transmission problem put him out of the race.

Button was sceptical of Raikkonen’s display today, hinting that the Finn’s lap of one minute 29.355 seconds – the quickest of the day from either session – may have been politically motivated.

McLaren use Mercedes power and the car giant has been criticised this year for their engine before today’s surprise display on home ground in Germany.

Button said: “They’ve obviously either found something extra positive or are running light on fuel. We’ll know tomorrow. They are in Germany after all.

“It’s only Friday and it’s difficult to see how much of today’s results is down to teams improving or their fuel loads.”

Button is also convinced Ferrari’s apparently disappointing display in second practice is not a sign of troubles to come.

Only BAR test driver Anthony Davidson prevented a Ferrari one-two in the first session, but this afternoon neither Schumacher nor Rubens Barrichello came close to repeating that performance.

Schumacher was over half a second slower in the afternoon with a hydraulic problem hampering his efforts, while Barrichello was down in sixth.

But Button still expects Ferrari to be the pacesetters in Sunday’s race, predicting a similar situation to the one he faced in Spain, when he was among the front-runners in practice only for Schumacher to cruise to victory.

He added: “It’s a different circuit. It’s a lot more open than Monaco but cars normally work on every circuit.

“The only exception was Ferrari in Monaco when they didn’t seem as strong as they have been.

“I think it will be very similar to Barcelona – Ferrari very strong with ourselves, Renault and Williams up there. It’s going to be pretty similar to previous races.

“This morning Ferrari were very strong and if you look at their stints they were very strong. Their long runs were exceptional so they are going to be quick. They always are.

“This is a circuit you can overtake on so even if they don’t qualify on pole they have a good chance of winning here.”

This weekend promises to be the coldest of the Formula One year so far, with temperatures struggling to top 16 degrees.

Track temperature is crucial for tyre performance in particular and Button hopes temparatures do not fall further.

He said: “If it gets any colder it’s probably not going to help us. I’ve heard the weather will get warmer over the weekend so it shouldn’t be a problem.

“The lack of grip has been a problem throughout today. We struggled this morning and were expecting the grip level to improve this afternoon, but it didn’t. That’s probably because the temparature is quite cool and it’s a little windy.”

Raikkonen refused to get carried away with his speed, admitting there is still much work to do before McLaren’s current promise can be translated into much-needed points.

The Finn, who has only one point this season after four retirements, said: “It is a good start to the weekend but there is still a long time to go.

“As always, we will do our best and hopefully continue to make some progress. We completed our planned programme and experienced no problems, which is encouraging.

“The car seems to behave well here, but its tomorrow that really matters and we will see where we end up.”

David Coulthard was also cautious despite his good showing, with the Scot clocking the fourth-fastest time this afternoon.

“Obviously it doesn’t look too bad for us today despite only running a limited number of laps,” the Scot said.

“We completed our tyre evaluation programme and found a reasonable basic set-up, so our pace seems quite encouraging.”