Jenson Button reacts passionately after winning the F1 season opener in Melbourne. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Button Received Ferrari 'Offer' Last Year: Jenson Button reportedly received an "offer" from Ferrari before re-committing last year to the McLaren team. The Brazilian news agency Agencia Estado said the Briton held talks with Ferrari prior to October last year, when his new 'multi-year contract' with his famous British employer was announced. Estado said Ferrari courted Button, 32, as a potential replacement for struggling Felipe Massa, who is now tipped to be succeeded in 2013 by Sergio Perez. Asked to comment, Button said: "I was happy to know that my work was respected. "I had a listen to what some of the other teams could offer me." The revelation in the Brazilian press follows Button's comments last week about Fernando Alonso. "If Lewis (Hamilton) wasn't in Formula One, I personally feel it would be exciting having Fernando as a teammate," he told the Daily Mail.

Perez Eyes Move To 'Big Team' In Two Years: Sergio Perez insists he is "100 per cent" committed to Sauber, but revealed he would like to be with a "big team" within two years. After his strong second place in Malaysia recently, and amid Felipe Massa's struggle for form at Ferrari, speculation has linked Mexican Perez with an imminent move to the famous Maranello based team. He is already the cream of Ferrari's development driver 'academy' and linked with an eventual move to the Italian squad. "I think we have to assume that Massa won't be there in 2013," British commentator Martin Brundle told the BBC program Top Gear's website. But at present, 22-year-old Perez insists it is all hot air. "There is nothing (to the rumors)," he is quoted by the EFE news agency. "I am one hundred per cent committed to Sauber, and it's probably the same with Ferrari and Massa. "We're just focused on having a great season," added Perez. He admitted however that his goal within two years is to be "in a big team".

F-Duct' Saga To Continue Into China: The 2012 'F-duct' controversy looks set to keep running for now. "It's not over yet," confirmed Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko to Germany's Auto Bild. In Australia and Malaysia, the threat of results protests hung over the opening races of 2012, due to some teams - chiefly Red Bull and Lotus - questioning the legality of the aerodynamic innovation on Mercedes' 2012 car. Until now, the FIA has declared that the system - working in unison with the driver-operated DRS - is fully legal. But it has emerged that Lotus technical director James Allison has come up with another argument against the technology that will be posed to the FIA's Charlie Whiting ahead of scrutineering for next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. It is believed that while Ferrari is on Red Bull and Lotus' side at present, Mercedes-powered McLaren is currently staying out of the debate altogether.

'New' HRT Not In Third F1 Season - Gracia: Martin Brundle has admitted he is surprised HRT is still struggling so much at the start of its third season in Formula One. Better known then as 'Hispania', the Spanish team was founded by Adrian Campos after former FIA president Max Mosley opened up three new places in pitlane for the start of the 2010 season. But last year, the team's second group of owners - the Carabante family - passed the baton yet again to Thesan Capital, who have rebuilt HRT in the wake of the management and infrastructure that was brought by former boss Colin Kolles. Even so, the highly respected British commentator and former Grand Prix veteran Martin Brundle is surprised that Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan are struggling so much with the team's Cosworth-powered 2012 car. "Somebody's got to be at the front, somebody's got to be at the back," the Briton told the BBC motoring program Top Gear's website. "(But) the HRT is particularly poor at the moment, and it confuses me why in year three it's worse than it was in year one." Carlos Gracia, an FIA vice-president and head of Spain's motor racing federation, doesn't fully agree. Speaking to the sports newspaper Marca, he explained that veteran de la Rosa faces a "handicap" as the Spaniard races with HRT this year. "He knows where he is; in a brand new team, although some people believe it is their third year. They have begun again, but it seems that they are in a situation where they have only just started and yet they have to clean up the image of the other years." added Gracia.

Raikkonen return impresses champions Lauda, Fittipaldi: Two former champions have admitted they are impressed with how Kimi Raikkonen has re-adjusted to Formula One after two years off the grid. Niki Lauda, the plain-speaking triple world champion, hailed F1's 2007 title winner for driving "as though he had never been away" in the early phase of his return this season, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Emerson Fittipaldi, the double champion of the 70s, agrees. "I am surprised that it has taken no time for Kimi to be back at the top of his form," said the Brazilian. "Michael Schumacher is on form this year too, but it took him two years to get back in the groove. Kimi was on it from the very first test," he added. Fittipaldi, meanwhile, had some advice for Raikkonen's Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean, who despite showing promise is yet to see the checkered flag in 2012 after a collision in Melbourne and a spin in Malaysia. "(It's) the same advice I'd give any driver, especially a young one: first you have to finish, then you can finish first," he said.

Struggling Red Bull The 'Surprise' Of 2012 - Brundle: Martin Brundle has described Red Bull's lack of pace as the biggest surprise of the 2012 season so far.After consecutive world campionships with Sebastian Vettel, the energy drink-owned team was universally tipped as the pre-season favorite for yet another F1 title. But McLaren dominated in Australia before Ferrari and Sauber surprisingly set the pace recently in Malaysia. Former F1 driver Brundle admitted the struggling RB8 was the surprise of the opening salvo in 2012, but he also acknowledged that the turnaround might have been predicted. "When you look at how the regulations have changed, it's almost like they were designed to slow the Red Bulls down," the Sky television commentator told the website of the BBC program Top Gear. "Doubling the torsional stiffness of the front wings, the way Red Bull were 'flying' their car down the track with lots of rake, nose close to the ground, exhausts helping to sort the high rear ride height out, it's all been taken away from them," added Brundle. An unnamed engineer at Red Bull has admitted the team was caught on the hop in the winter pre-season, when it became clear McLaren was better prepared for the new rules. "McLaren came with a (exhaust) system on the edge of legality," the engineer told Germany's Auto Bild, "and it was declared legal by the FIA.