Sunday: the McLarens were in the running
The McLaren drivers had a very good race today in Barcelona. While Lewis Hamilton just missed out on victory by a few tenths after literally hounding Sebastian Vettel's RB7, Jenson Button superbly recovered from his poor start with a three-stop strategy.
Lewis Hamilton – 2nd
It was a pleasant surprise to be so fast today. I actually think we were faster than the Red Bull except in the very fast sections.
I pushed as hard as I could this afternoon and I am really happy with the result: a few more laps and the order could have been reversed, but I just ran out of time in the end.
Despite the DRS, it was very difficult to overtake on this track: you can’t follow in turns 3 or 9, so it’s really tough. I was in the turbulence generated by Sebastian’s car and my car was sliding a lot: it was incredibly hard behind him.
We might still be losing a bit too much time in qualifying, but our race pace is definitely there.
I was also happy to see Jenson finish on the podium, it’s a great result for the team. Now, I’m really looking forward to Monaco: it’s a track where high-speed downforce is less important and where the driver can make a difference, so it should be a good opportunity for us.
Jenson Button – 3rd
« I had a very bad start and was on the outside at turns 1 and 3. I fell to 10th place at the end of the first lap, which was very disappointing.
After that, I didn’t really think third place was possible, but as others pitted early and my tires still seemed good, I started to believe. After Turkey, it was fantastic to make the strategy work today.
We stayed on the soft tires as long as possible and I made 3 stops where others made 4. As a result, I had a great race. I overtook Mark and Fernando on the same lap. I knew I wouldn’t catch up with the first two, but I pushed as hard as I could in case something happened in front of me.
[With the new hard tires], as soon as you lose the rear, the lap times drop. We did well today, and when I finally had to switch to the hard tires, the track conditions were good and the tires worked quite well. I really felt like I was racing today.Finally, I want to say a big thank you to the team: we chose a fantastic strategy, the pit stops were perfect, and everything worked well. This is the result of a superb collective effort.
Martin Whitmarsh – Team Principal
Jenson superbly recovered by finding the balance between speed and the need to preserve his tires, and the result was that he joined Sebastian and Lewis on the podium. His driving was the hallmark of true world champions.
As for Lewis, he had another breathtaking race, battling with Sebastian from start to finish. […] Lewis was looking for a way to pass Sebastian in the closing laps, their battle was a suspenseful finale for the spectators and viewers, but, in the end, he just couldn’t get past him. […]
In summary, we scored 33 points today, which is still a decent result. But we want to win and that’s what we will try to do in the streets of the famous Monaco challenge in a few days.
