Zoom Button and Brawn GP the centre of attention

The day ahead of the opening practice session of the Australian Grand Prix saw Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes), Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) take part in the official FIA press conference.

Q: Gentlemen, what are your feelings going into the new season?
Jenson BUTTON: I have not slept that much this week, I must say. It is great to be here to start with for me. It is great to be here in Melbourne for the first race. That was the first goal. It is nice to be here and secondly we are in a much better position than most people thought, so it is nice to be here starting the season on a positive note.

Q: Is it a massive excitement. Your father says he is having to take tranquilizers.
JB: I think a bottle of red normally does it. My father does talk a lot. He is very excited at the moment. I don’t know, it is difficult. For everyone else they have been testing for quite a bit of the winter, but for us it has been condensed down to the last two weeks. We have been flat out with testing and simulator work, so it has all been quite busy the last couple of weeks. As I said it is good to be here and it is good to see the team with a very positive attitude. We have gone through a very hard time this winter but they have stayed strong and we’ve proved it with the reliability in testing and getting the car out.

Q: Sebastian, for you a new team as well?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, a slightly new team. Obviously looking forward to the season. We had quite a strong winter, I’d say with a lot of work going on. I think our car looks very nice but we have to prove it is one of the best on the circuit still, but let’s see. Right now for everyone it is the same situation as you don’t know exactly where you are, it is a bit of guessing right now, but we focus on ourselves. I think we are in a good position, so we will see but definitely looking forward.

Q: Felipe, a certain amount of unfinished business, I suspect, is your way of looking at the new season.
Felipe MASSA: Well, it depends. We finished the business last year with one point behind but we finished. Now we need to start another one from zero. I hope with a very competitive car like we had last year, but maybe slightly more reliable and a very efficient team. That was what we were doing in the winter, trying to work 100 per cent in every detail, not to lose any point, so I hope.