A seventh place finish yesterday has made Button's F1 title defence extremely difficult

Seventh place finish makes Button's F1 title defence difficult

A seventh place finish yesterday has made Button's F1 title defence extremely difficult

u00a0Jenson Button.

Button finished seventh in yesterday's curtain-raising Bahrain Grand Prix, 45 seconds adrift of race-winner Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and 22 seconds down on third-placed teammate Lewis Hamilton.

If this is a sign of things to come then it could be a long, hard season for Button, as many warned him against when he opted to leave Brawn GP for McLaren at the end of his title-winning campaign.

Starting from seventh on the grid, Button initially dropped a place to Red Bull's Mark Webber on the opening lap.

Although the 30-year-old managed to jump Webber in the pit stop, he then spent the remainder of the race staring at the rear of the man who replaced him at the team now known as Mercedes in seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.

"In the first stint I didn't know what was going to happen to the tyres so I took it easy," said Button.

"I was a bit sad we pitted when we did because I thought I looked after the tyres a bit too much.

"In the final five laps of that first stint I was able to push and catch Webber, who had damaged his tyres, and Michael.

"Michael pitted a lap before me and he was able to pull away, but I jumped Webber which was great.

"They were really good pit stops by the guys as Lewis and I both managed to jump someone.

"I then started pushing with 20 laps to go and I caught up with Michael, but I couldn't do anything.

"I didn't have the pace in the middle section to challenge in the final section, which was disappointing.

"So I'm okay with the result, although it wasn't what I was hoping for. I expected to be a bit further up.

"But it's impossible to overtake here. It's so difficult which is very frustrating, but the sport is what it is."

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