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McLaren-Honda Formula 1 driver Jenson Button fears what he considers to be an "unbelievably high" spike in tyre pressures will lead to a difficult Austrian Grand Prix.

Button claims the pressure on the front tyres has been raised by 4psi compared to last year's race at the Red Bull Ring.

Pirelli's explanation is that the real starting pressures are not up by 4psi for the majority of the teams as they were running higher anyway, in addition to the fact that any raise offsets the fact this year's cars are two seconds per lap quicker.

Despite that, a concerned Button called the rise "unbelievably high considering we didn't have any issues here last year. It's very high.

"Front graining's going to be a massive issue. That's tough considering we've got softs, super-softs and ultra-softs here.

"It's going to make the weekend reasonably tough for everyone. It's going to be about cooling as much as you can and driving in a certain way and having to run loads of engine braking and stuff like that. It's a shame."

Tyre pressures have been raised generally throughout the season so far, however, Button feels the characteristics of the Austrian circuit create more pressing problems for this weekend.

"It's the type of corners you have here, the high-speed and mid-speed corners," added Button.

"You're going to be loading the front left a lot. I think a lot of people are going to struggle with graining on every tyre. It's going to be tough and controlling that is going to be tricky."

Button feels Pirelli has reneged on suggestions regarding the tyre pressures for this year, but can at least appreciate the circumstances why they have been raised.

"At the end of last year we were told we were going to have lower pressures this year and we haven't, so it's really difficult," said Button.

"I think the issue is Pirelli is seeing very low pressures behind the safety car and at certain instances during the race because people are doing certain things.

"So I think that's why they're putting the pressures up, so the minimum pressure is higher."