Jenson Button believes the situation Fernando Alonso faced last year is proof McLaren can bounce back from their own nightmare start this season.
A year ago Ferrari unveiled one of their worst cars in recent history that was hopelessly off the pace in winter testing and in the opening few races before they finally managed to correct the faults.
Come the conclusion to a campaign Alonso led for a significant period of time, he ultimately missed out on a third world championship by just three points to Sebastian Vettel.
Twelve months on and it is McLaren in the doldrums as Button and team-mate Sergio Perez could only finish ninth and 11th respectively in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a car team principal Martin Whitmarsh has conceded they are struggling to understand.
Ahead of this weekend’s second race of the campaign in Malaysia, one Alonso won a year ago in fortuitous circumstances given the weather conditions, Button is hoping to draw on the Spaniard’s turnaround.
“There is that side of it, which is very positive. Fernando was one and a half seconds off the pace – of us at the start of the season – and almost won the title,” said Button.
“So yes, it is possible for a front-running team to make up the deficit. If it’s the same as their situation, I don’t know.
“There are always strengths and weaknesses, and then it’s about how many of each, but it’s not the place we’d like to be at the start of a year.
“For us, a lot has changed over the winter with the car, and for most of the teams that’s not been the case. They have developed what they had last season. We just took a very different approach.
“At this moment in time, obviously we’re not as happy as we were hoping to be, but it’s only the first race and there’s so much we can achieve.”
For Perez, throughout the winter the Mexican proclaimed his belief he could become world champion this season after joining McLaren.
Instead, at Melbourne’s Albert Park over the weekend, the 23-year-old found himself fighting in the midfield with the likes of Sauber, the team he left at the end of last season.
Perez, however, is aware of McLaren’s strengths and how quickly they can prosper from a position of despair.
Perez said: “If there is one team capable of getting out of these tricky conditions we have at the moment then it’s McLaren.
“I fully believe in McLaren, and what is encouraging for me is I see the people working flat out.
“I know we are going to come out of this situation sooner rather than later.”
