Jenson Button opens the scoring for McLaren-Honda in Monaco
The progress of the McLaren-Honda pair reached a milestone this afternoon in Monaco: on a track that seemed to suit them, the Woking team scored its first points with Jenson Button's eighth place. Fernando Alonso, however, retired.
In front of the journalists, Jenson Button was very proud to bring back the first points of the season for McLaren-Honda. His performance was clear: always in the Top 10, he drove his car impeccably to the finish, avoiding obstacles.
This race thus erases the disappointment of a Qualifying session that saw him fail at the door of Q3. “It was a very positive day for us,” declared the Englishman. “We did not expect to finish so well placed, so it’s a great performance, and I am proud of the team.”
His enthusiasm is nonetheless measured: « The season has been very difficult so far: but we must keep our feet on the ground, we are not going to win a Grand Prix that easily. We make progress with each race, but it was important to score these first points, that’s what people will remember from our weekend. »
The winner of the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix acknowledges that the team still lacks pure performance; but he is satisfied with its good pace compared to the leading teams. « There are still many points to work on, but our pace today wasn’t bad ». Nevertheless, he hopes that this race will be a springboard towards a happy outcome: « Let’s hope that this result will take us even higher. We have the best guys in the world on our team, but it still takes time to achieve our goals. This Grand Prix is not a turning point, but I think it just illustrates our general progression. We hope to finish in the points in the upcoming races as well. »
On the other hand, Fernando Alonso once again drew the short straw today. Another disappointment, with a retirement on the 42nd lap, the double World Champion 2005-2006 was let down by his gearbox. The start for the Spaniard was also chaotic after a collision with Nico Hülkenberg. He was deemed responsible for this incident and received a 5-second penalty during his first pit stop. He did not hesitate to call this decision random and strange.
« I was on the inside of the trajectory, he was on the outside. We know it is very difficult to be side by side in a turn here. That is why giving penalties of this style is very strange. But anyway, it didn’t change much since I came out in the same position after my penalty (Fernando Alonso was 9th at that moment). »
In the end, McLaren-Honda leaves with 4 points in the bag. However, the real progression of the team can only be judged after the upcoming Grand Prix races on more conventional tracks.
