McLaren: Button hopes not to be on the last row at the start
After some unpromising practice sessions, Jenson Button reminds us where McLaren Honda stands at the start of the 2015 season and hopes that the team will learn from this first Grand Prix weekend.
At the wheel of a McLaren Honda still in its break-in phase, Jenson Button is not very optimistic for the upcoming two days of the Australian Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion knows that his team is starting from a difficult position after complicated winter testing, marred by technical issues: “There will always be in our minds the fact that we have not yet completed a race distance. It’s still a learning process for us,” he explained to Sky Sports.
We are doing the best possible job, we are keeping our heads down and focusing on getting the best out of what we have this weekend. I don’t have a specific goal; there’s a lot of data to gather tomorrow.
The qualifying session will be particularly problematic for McLaren, and Button doesn’t hide it: « The qualifying will be difficult, I’m sure of it. Going out to complete as many laps as possible in qualifying will be tricky. I hope we won’t be on the last row of the grid—let’s hope that 20 cars will race! »
But it is not going to be easy. We all know that and it’s the most important thing. We are all working as one and not pointing fingers at anyone. We are solving problems as they arise. Let’s hope we can be competitive as soon as possible.
« Winter testing was difficult and so it won’t suddenly become wonderful at the first race of the season, » he explained. « It’s all about learning. And also about racing over the course of a weekend. It’s something we haven’t done as a team, as McLaren-Honda, so there’s a lot of work to do. »
