Nick Fry believes Jenson Button will spend two weeks in self-analysis wondering what he has to do to beat Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes GP managing director Fry was one of many to warn Button he was making a big mistake in joining McLaren and going head-to-head with Hamilton.

After working with Button for a number of seasons, initially with Honda before it morphed into last season's title-winners Brawn GP, Fry felt he was not overstepping the mark with his comments.

Button ignored the doubters, but will now fully appreciate the size of his task following a Bahrain Grand Prix weekend throughout which he was comfortably beaten by Hamilton in qualifying and the race.

Assessing Button's performance, now from a position of being on the outside looking in, Fry said: "There's clearly a gap that Jenson is going to have to close. It's absolutely self-evident.

"I'm sure he'll now be looking at what he can do to close the gap to Lewis, who does have home-team advantage at the moment.

"But the longer Jenson stays with the team, the more that reason goes away.

"He'll have to be looking at all aspects of his own performance, not only how he drives, but also the way he works with the team.

"Jenson will know all those things, and he's got to work hard."

For his part, Button knows he has to fine tune a car he concedes is still not to his liking.

The reigning world champion is refusing to make that an excuse for his seventh-placed finish, 45 seconds behind race-winner Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard made a dream debut for Ferrari.

Button was also 22 seconds adrift of Hamilton, who was third, but these are still early days for the 30-year-old who has only been with McLaren for two and a half months.

Tyre concerns, traffic and turgid rules that restricted the sport to a bore yesterday all conspired against Button at a time when he is trying to find his feet and make his mark with his new team.

"There's room for improvement," assessed Button, who will be hoping for that ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 28.

"I'm not entirely happy with the car, but that's a set-up thing because the car is a good one and there is pace in it.

"That's witnessed by the fact Lewis did a great job to get on the podium, and it shows the team has done a very good job.

"But there are a few areas of the car I need to look at, improve, a weakness you might say, to make it my own a little bit more, so I'll be working on that in Melbourne on Friday (in practice).

"For me, it's the low-speed aspect, but the pace is something we can work with and improve in Melbourne."

However, Button does not feel there will be too much change to the running order around Albert Park.

"The Mercedes is relatively quick, and the Red Bull, although they seem to have a problem conserving fuel," added Button.

"But you're looking at Ferrari being the dominant force for the next race as they seem very quick.

"Our car is reasonably competitive, but it is not on the same pace as the Ferraris at the moment."