Saturday: McLaren facing difficulties with Intermediate tires
The McLaren team did not have a good time this Saturday. The issue was problems with the Intermediate tires, as Lewis Hamilton failed to get them up to temperature in Q3, and Jenson Button was forced to withdraw after Q1, trapped by vibrations that forced him to set times in less favorable conditions.
Lewis Hamilton – 6th and 8th:
I don’t really know what happened in Q3. The Rain tires had worked really well, but as the track became less wet, I was looking for better grip and switched to Intermediates – but we struggled to get them up to temperature and therefore couldn’t get them going.
I therefore had very little grip with the Intermediates, having felt more confident with the Wets; obviously, we’ll try to analyze the problem before tomorrow and, hopefully, fix it.
I want to take my hat off to the fans. They were fantastic: very patient and so supportive! The cheers from the stands were spectacular. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a car on the front row for them, but we can still push tomorrow.
Although the 8th place is not the best to start from, it’s going to be a tough race and we’re not so far off.
Jenson Button – 2nd and 18th:
« Normally, I can drive a car in the wet, but apparently not today. The car felt completely different with the second set of Intermediates – with the first set, I had a lot of vibrations at the front and couldn’t get the tires to work, but on the second set, this issue was less significant.
So, on my last attempt, I was about 1.8 seconds ahead of my best time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convert that into a lap time because the last sector was particularly wet and there was a yellow flag at the start grid. That’s how it is sometimes. It’s the story of my season, I guess.
If this Sunday is rainy, as expected, then the fact that we haven’t put a lot of mileage on the tires could give me an advantage for tomorrow.
You just have to take the positive from the situation, wherever you can find it.
