Jenson Button says testing in Bahrain ahead of his return to Formula 1 this weekend, replacing Fernando Alonso in Monaco, would have been “absolutely useless”.
The British driver stepped back from F1 at the end of last season. But with Alonso missing Monaco to compete at the Indianapolis 500, Button has been drafted in to replace him.
He has yet to try out the new 2017 cars, but the 2009 F1 champion admitted driving at the in-season Bahrain test would not have been helpful.
“The preparation has been good; apart from [the fact that] I haven’t obviously driven the car, with these new regulations” he said in Wednesday’s FIA press conference.
“So, it’s not perfect. The option was to do half a day in Bahrain, which I though was absolutely useless for me to do, a completely different type of circuit.
“I would have only done 17 laps the day that I would have tested and I was only going to do half a day anyway.
“I said to the team, I think it’s best if I do a few days in the simulator. Obviously as drivers we love the simulator, so I was raring to go.
“I spent a lot of time in the simulator getting a feel for it. Yeah, it’s been interesting. You know, most of the stuff is the same, but there are a few things that are obviously different, with the new regulations.
“A few things to learn but it’s still a racing car, just got to get used to it being a bit wider.”
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