Following two tough practice sessions for McLaren the Chinese Grand Prix, Jenson Button has conceded he will not be ‘fighting at the front’ this weekend.
The Woking based squad has bought a raft of updates to its troubled MP4-28 car this weekend which saw Jenson Button finish in the top-six for both sessions, but the 2009 world champion still remains downbeat of his chances of challenging for the win on Sunday.
“We can’t yet conclusively tell if the upgrades we brought to this race have improved the car,” admitted Button after FP2. “They’re perhaps not as big a step forward as we’d expected. I don’t think we’ll be fighting at the front this weekend, but we’ll definitely be fighting someone.”
Despite claiming the updates haven’t worked quite as well as planned, the Brit praised the team’s effort to improve the car in the three-week break between the Malaysian and Chinese races and believes it’s a matter of analysing which new parts matter.
“We’ve worked very hard over the last few weeks to bring the new parts here – which is great,” he continued. “Today’s been all about putting mileage on those parts; now we need to sit down and look at the data this evening – there’s a lot to look through."
Teammate Sergio Perez was equally as confident of an improved performance on Sunday, despite finishing 16th and 11th in FP1 and 2 respectively after a tough day. The Mexican’s first session was characterised by a trip into the gravel trap at the pit lane entry that echoed Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 race ending accident, and another off-road excursion in the following.
“Today was a difficult day for me, but an important one for the team,” he said in McLaren’s post-session press release. “I had two offs – in the morning, I was running on cold, worn tires, locked the wheels and just touched the barrier and went into it [the barrier].”
“Still, I’m sure we will improve tomorrow. I think we can have a good result on Sunday.”
The Woking based squad has bought a raft of updates to its troubled MP4-28 car this weekend which saw Jenson Button finish in the top-six for both sessions, but the 2009 world champion still remains downbeat of his chances of challenging for the win on Sunday.
 |
| Jenson Button, McLaren (Photo: McLaren) |
“We can’t yet conclusively tell if the upgrades we brought to this race have improved the car,” admitted Button after FP2. “They’re perhaps not as big a step forward as we’d expected. I don’t think we’ll be fighting at the front this weekend, but we’ll definitely be fighting someone.”
Despite claiming the updates haven’t worked quite as well as planned, the Brit praised the team’s effort to improve the car in the three-week break between the Malaysian and Chinese races and believes it’s a matter of analysing which new parts matter.
“We’ve worked very hard over the last few weeks to bring the new parts here – which is great,” he continued. “Today’s been all about putting mileage on those parts; now we need to sit down and look at the data this evening – there’s a lot to look through."
 |
| Sergio Perez, McLaren (Photo: McLaren) |
Teammate Sergio Perez was equally as confident of an improved performance on Sunday, despite finishing 16th and 11th in FP1 and 2 respectively after a tough day. The Mexican’s first session was characterised by a trip into the gravel trap at the pit lane entry that echoed Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 race ending accident, and another off-road excursion in the following.
“Today was a difficult day for me, but an important one for the team,” he said in McLaren’s post-session press release. “I had two offs – in the morning, I was running on cold, worn tires, locked the wheels and just touched the barrier and went into it [the barrier].”
“Still, I’m sure we will improve tomorrow. I think we can have a good result on Sunday.”