McLaren-Honda: Button expects a long and difficult winter
After a rather poor season, McLaren-Honda is the team that hopes to benefit the most from the offseason. Jenson Button acknowledges that the winter will be difficult for his team, but assures that the progress will be substantial.
Jenson Button, only 16th in the drivers’ championship, is experiencing one of the most challenging seasons of his long Formula 1 career. The cause is known to all: the Honda power unit in his McLaren is not up to par. “We knew it would be a difficult season, and the last races in particular have been very tough,” admits the 2009 World Champion.
« It would be appreciated to have more reliability, and we are pushing to make solid progress because next year really excites us more. This year is more of a testing year for us. In a few races, we ended up in a good position under unusual circumstances. But most of the time, it was about testing, trying to challenge the power unit, as well as the car itself, the chassis, the aerodynamics… » he continued for *Autosport Magazine*.
During the winter, Jenson Button would like to see McLaren-Honda find two and a half seconds per lap, an obviously particularly arduous task in a few months: « At each race we have brought new developments » he recalled. « Whether you can see it in terms of lap time or not, it remains rich in lessons for next year. But it’s going to be a long winter for us. It won’t be an easy winter to find the seconds we need, but it’s a winter we’re looking forward to. If we want to fight at the front, we need to find two and a half seconds, which is a considerable gap. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but I know we’ll make big progress this winter. »
Jenson Button, who has extended his contract until 2017, bases his optimism on the expertise of both Honda and McLaren: « I wanted to stay because my opinion is that we can have a good year next year. I feel the passion within the team, I feel how well everyone works together, whether it’s in Sakura [Honda HQ] or in Woking. »
