Friday: The rain brings smiles at McLaren
McLaren will be doing a rain dance hoping that weather conditions don't improve too much for the rest of the weekend. Jenson Button was very comfortable during the morning session and believes the MP4-28 could allow him to deliver a strong performance if the rain continues to be present. A sentiment shared by Sergio Pérez.
Jenson Button – 2nd and 9th
« I think we are a bit closer to the best than in the past. The times are very tight, but it’s the usual cars that will have the right pace this weekend. We needed everything to go well today, but I could only do three laps with a full tank before encountering a problem with my gearbox. It’s a shame because it means we have no information on long runs. We already had the same type of problem last year. In 2012, I had a difficult race with graining on the rear tires. Nevertheless, the positive side is that each car was running with very different setups, so at least we collected a lot of useful data. We will study this tonight. I hope the weather conditions will remain mixed tomorrow. If that’s the case, I think we can stand out. »
Sergio Pérez – 8th and 12th
« We encountered tricky conditions today. The morning session, which started on a wet track and slowly dried out, was particularly difficult. The rain that fell in the afternoon during the long runs didn’t help either. We still lack performance compared to the best, but anything can happen here, especially in the conditions we saw today. If tomorrow is also wet, everyone will arrive on Sunday without having done long runs, which could make the race surprising. »
