Button playing catch up - Fry

Date published : 15 Mar 2010 - 17:18:00

Nick Fry believes Jenson Button will spend the next two weeks in self-analysis wondering what he has to do to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who finished four places ahead of the world champion at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Mercedes GP managing director Fry, who worked with Button for a number of seasons, initially with Honda before it morphed into last season's title-winners Brawn GP, was one of many to warn Button he was making a big mistake in joining McLaren and going head-to-head with Hamilton.

Assessing Button's performance, now from a position of being on the outside looking in, Fry said: "There's clearly a gap that Jenson is going to have to close. It's absolutely self-evident. I'm sure he'll now be looking at what he can do to close the gap to Lewis, who does have home-team advantage at the moment. But the longer Jenson stays with the team, the more that reason goes away."

He added: "He'll have to be looking at all aspects of his own performance, not only how he drives but also the way he works with the team.

"Jenson will know all those things, and he's got to work hard."