Motorsport: F1 superpowers will be back, says Button

F1 champion Jenson Button fully expects Ferrari and McLaren will be back at the sharp end of the championship in 2010. Photo / AP

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - After clinching one of the most unexpected championships in Formula One history this season, Jenson Button is predicting the traditional powers will be back to confront the new order next season.

Button believes Ferrari and McLaren, which both fell out of contention with dismal starts to 2009, will challenge his Brawn GP team and 2009 runner-up Red Bull in 2010.

It is a prospect that the British driver relishes, and a challenge he believes Brawn can withstand.

"Ferrari and McLaren will be competitive next season, they have the experience and resources," Button said. "But I don't think suddenly they are going to be faster than the Red Bulls or Brawns.

"Having four teams fighting out in front is something that has not happened before. Eight drivers fighting for wins is exciting."

Button didn't feature in championship calculations in the pre-season, and wasn't even sure he'd make it back to the grid. He was part of the Honda team that folded its F1 operations last December and then was taken over by former team principal Ross Brawn just weeks before the Australian GP.

Button took a pay cut to keep his job, then made the most of it by taking advantage of the Brawn car's early dominance to build a huge lead in an extraordinary first half of the season.

He won six of the first seven races of the season and then was consistent enough the rest of the year to maintain a comfortable lead in the championship standings.

Ferrari and McLaren, meanwhile, paid the price this year for fighting out the 2008 title to the final race.

Having put all their resources into marginal improvements in the 2008 car, development of a 2009 car was put on the back burner despite the need for a radical redesign to comply with new regulations.

Ferrari learned its lesson, and after the poor start to 2009, soon gave up on trying to improve the car, instead starting early on producing a 2010 challenger.

McLaren took a different approach. Even after a slow start, McLaren kept improving its 2009 car to the point where it was the fastest by season's end.

The team insists it has not ignored 2010 development, but argues the changes needed in this off-season are only incremental, compared with the drastic change of the previous year.