Button makes mark in Melbourne

Jenson Button left Albert Park complaining after being induced into a rare mistake, despite being the fastest race driver in practice for the Australian Grand Prix today.

The 26-year-old was fourth overall, behind test drivers Anthony Davidson, Alex Wurz and Robert Kubica, but put world champion Fernando Alonso in the shade.

However, an untidy session for the normally super-smooth Button saw the Honda driver bounce through the gravel twice, including an embarrassing off on his first lap out of the pits.

He said: “It’s really difficult out there, it’s really low grip, you can see a lot of people are making mistakes.

“I don’t think I took any corner the same on any lap because it’s so difficult to drive out there.

“Hopefully the circuit will be better tomorrow but we are looking at things to help our consistency.

“I went off on my out lap because there is such low grip, I was going slow at the time and went through the gravel.

“It’s quite unusual for me as I don’t normally go off, which shows how little grip there is.”

There could be even less grip for Button tomorrow if the forecast rain drenches Albert Park as it did 12 months ago for qualifying.

But the Englishman said: “There is a possibility of rain tomorrow so it’s going to be an interesting day. Hopefully it will stay dry because it’s better for everyone.”

Honda test driver Davidson was fastest in both sessions in Melbourne, taking advantage of his only action of the weekend to set a best time of one minute 26.822 seconds.

That put him clear of Williams’ Wurz and BMW-Sauber’s Kubica in second and third respectively but the significant times came further down the timing sheets.

Button beat world champion Fernando Alonso in the so-far-dominant Renault by a quarter of a second.

Michael Schumacher was sixth for Ferrari with McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen seventh as four likely victory candidates set the standard.

Like Button, Schumacher also suffered an off-track excursion, although he blamed the wind rather than the parkland circuit.

He said: “The wind made for unpredictable handling. On one lap I ended up running a bit wide in a corner when a gust of wind pushed the car from behind.”

Scotland’s David Coulthard spun on his way to 13th for Red Bull and he was by no means the only driver to come a cropper.