Delayed start to season helped McLaren, Formula 1

McLaren driver Jenson Button said the delayed start to the Formula 1 season gave his team the chance to improve the car after an erratic pre-season.

Team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished second in the opening race at Melbourne, with Button down in sixth after a drive-through penalty.

'Over two weeks ago we thought we were on the pace of the Force India cars in testing," he told the Daily Mail.

'But we qualified two seconds quicker than them. We've picked up so much."

The 2011 season was supposed to start in Bahrain on 13 March, but the political situation in the country saw the race postponed.

The season eventually moved under way on 27 March, and the delay gave McLaren time to make improvements to their set-up.

'Looking at the performance of the car now and seeing where we have come from, it's massively impressive. I've never seen anything like it," added Benson.

'You can see in the team everyone is now really positive, and there is a good atmosphere because we know this is only the beginning for us.

'With this new exhaust system, it's the starting point, and whereas everyone else has had all winter to play around with theirs, we can make some improvements."