Friday: Button and McLaren will aim for victory in India

Lewis Hamilton – 1st and 4th

The circuit is fantastic – the organizers here in India have done an incredible job. It’s very fast, flowing, the grip is fantastic, the run-off areas seem good, and the curbs are probably the best of the whole season: you can really ride over them. Like all other new circuits, the grip improves as the day goes on.

We seemed quick this morning. This afternoon, however, we had a problem with the driveshaft – so I was forced to quickly end my practice session. We will use a new gearbox tomorrow, so hopefully the car will perform better. That should allow us to get closer to the leaders.

The race will be long on Sunday. However, we should have opportunities to overtake: it’s a circuit that requires a lot of downforce and even if it will be difficult to follow another car, with the double DRS zone, things should be simpler. We will have a clearer idea of our speed tomorrow.

Jenson Button – 4th and 6th

I really enjoy this track, it’s very fun to drive. There are difficult corners like No. 3 and No. 5, but there are also high-speed sections and it actually seems faster than we initially thought.

What also surprised us was the level of grip, especially in the fast corners where the aerodynamic downforce works a lot, but also because the high-speed corners are quite smooth, allowing you to maintain a lot of speed through them.

It’s difficult to bring the tires up to their optimal temperature, but once they are, the grip at high speeds is phenomenal. From turn 5 onwards, the track is actually very fast.

We should have a lot of fun this weekend and we can hope to fight for victory on Sunday.