Friday: McLaren expects a very tight weekend
Satisfied with their pace, the two McLaren drivers still hope to improve the balance of their car before a race they expect to be highly competitive.
Lewis Hamilton – 6th and 3rd
« It was a very good session and a positive day for me. In FP2, I think debris from one of the accidents might have caused my puncture because I had just left the pits when I suddenly felt my tire deflate.
Nevertheless, we were able to test a number of parts. I am still searching for the exact balance I need and I am not entirely sure which direction to take for the car, so I will sit down with my engineers to analyze the data collected tonight.
Our pace on long runs is very good; the speed is there. Once again, it seems very tight between Red Bull, Ferrari, and us, so we will work on the qualifying, prepare the car well, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
It is surprising to see so many accidents, but it’s a slippery and demanding track, and I suppose some drivers got caught out today. We are all testing the limits of our cars, and no one can blame us for that. There is no room for errors on a track like this, and unfortunately, some paid the price today—but they will bounce back tomorrow.
Jenson Button – 5th and 4th
« It is very difficult to fine-tune settings when there are so many red flags. It’s a complicated circuit – a single error on a curb can send you into the wall.
We did stints with a lot of fuel on the super-soft tires; it was essential to do a few laps with these compounds. This is useful information and I am sure we can still improve the car’s balance on laps with low fuel.
We didn’t do any stints with low fuel using the super softs due to the two red flags, so we filled up the fuel tanks and went back out on track. I’m pleased to see that the car is quite good with a lot of fuel.
The Red Bulls are fast, just like the Ferraris, the Mercedes, and ourselves. I think it will be even closer than in the last few races.
Martin Whitmarsh
« Today’s sessions showed just how ruthless this track can be: all it takes is taking a wrong line in a corner or climbing too aggressively over a curb, and you can end up in the wall. Fortunately, all drivers came out unscathed, and the marshals did a fantastically efficient job of cleaning the track and removing all the debris.
Despite the rather unusual number of interruptions, we still managed to make significant progress, evaluate a number of modifications we introduced for this race, and complete our tire comparison program – albeit with some disruptions due to the red flags.
Lewis and Jenson are quite satisfied with the balance of the car, but there is still work to be done to improve the setup. As usual, the competition looks tight—particularly this weekend—but the unpredictability of the weather and the difficulty of the circuit should give us a very contested race.
