Overtaking shockposted in F124 | 03 | 2011

OVERTAKING SHOCK: hold on to your hats, but Jenson Button believes F1 fans will be shocked by the amount of overtaking in Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as drivers fight to cope with the degradation of the Pirelli tyres in the closing stages of the race.

As concerns continue to grow about exactly how much influence the new tyres will have on racing, former world champ Button is under no illusions about how exciting it promises to be for fans.

"I think you will see so much overtaking in the last stint here that it will shock everyone," he explained today. "It is going to go to the last corner in this race, which is great. I don't know if all of the races will be like that, but this one will because we don't understand the tyres yet.

"For me the last stint is important to look after the tyres - the first two or three not so much because the important thing, as everyone knows, is to stop one lap before everyone else.

"If you do that you will overtake them because you will put new tyres on and go three seconds per lap quicker. It will be an interesting one. The main thing is who is going to be brave enough to stop the earliest, because you might think you have made a lot of ground up after the first stop, but you could lose it all again on the last stop or last stint.

"It is a balancing act and it is going to take a few races to work out what the best strategy is."

Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/scotcars