More Bird Trouble For Button.

Jenson Button continued to hold a fascination for the local birds, and ended up with one sitting in his lap as he toured back to the Albert Park pit-lane today.


In an incident remarkably similar to one he experienced in Kyalami testing, Button found a feathered friend heading straight for him as he contested the opening free practice session for this weekend's Australian GP. As in South Africa, the 20-year old survived the ensuing collision, but admitted it wasn't a pleasant experience.


"It was a bit gory," he revealed, "and my overalls were covered in blood again. I saw it coming this time and ducked - which was a bit dangerous - but the bird hit the wing mirror and fell into my lap. It was obviously dead, so I got on the radio and said I wanted to come in again because I had a bird in my lap, and the crew just laughed."


Button impressed in the opening hour, before concentrating on set-up changes in the second and slumping to 18th overall. He remains confident of a good showing in qualifying, however.