Ahead of his home race, Jenson Button has been given a wake-up call by team boss Ron Dennis.

Although he enjoys a 17 point advantage over his rookie teammate, Kevin Magnussen, for the most part Button has been lackluster this season, the Briton, like Sebastian Vettel, not entirely happy with the 2014 car.

Whilst he knows that Melbourne, where Button and his teammate scored podium finishes, was essentially a one-off and that the MP4-29 is not going to be challenging for wins anytime soon, Dennis clearly feels that Button could be doing more.

"I'm happy with the drivers in the sense I think they are giving their best," he told Sky Sports. "I'm sure Kevin is giving a big wake-up call to Jenson. In some ways you say: 'Great, we've made a great choice with Kevin.' But in other ways you say: 'Come on Jenson, you are a world champion and absolutely one thing you can do on a consistent basis - and you should be doing it - is beating your team-mate.'

"Do I want him to try harder? Of course I do," Dennis continued. "He's a highly paid grand prix driver. Yes, we are not giving him the best car; yes, it would be challenging for him to win in this car to say the least, but he could do his bit and Kevin has to make it as difficult for him as possible."

To add to the pressure on the 2009 champion his contract runs out at the end of the year, though Dennis, who insists he will not be looking to make a final decision on his 2015 line-up until later in the year, admits that he is studying the market.

"We want to win races and we would always hope the best available drivers would wish to drive our cars," he said. "The key word is 'available' because people have contracts and we respect those contracts.

"If Lewis was in a position to drive for us next year, as with many of the other top drivers if they were in that position, we would love to have them on board," he admitted. "No one should ever feel threatened, either as a driver or as an engineer. All we want to do is win and we have to take considered positions and considered decisions on that process."

On the other hand, reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, was back on form in Austria following the 'slump' that followed his maiden GP2 win in the season opener in Bahrain.