Jenson Button had a great time » in Abu Dhabi in his final qualifying session «
Abu Dhabi is the scene of many endings this weekend. The long-awaited conclusion of the Drivers' Championship, but also the departure of drivers who have made F1 history over the last 17 years, in the case of Jenson Button. For today's final qualifying session, he will start his 305th Grand Prix in 12th position.
After a slew of messages praising his merits both on and off the track from his McLaren team this Friday, recalling Jenson Button’s ability to drive in difficult conditions like during the Canadian round in 2011, which he won. The “Gentleman racer,” as he is nicknamed, will be eager to perform well and finish this final race of the season, despite a somewhat compromised Friday during FP1.
Jenson Button → FP3: 13th (1:42.664 – 14 laps) / Qualifying: 12th (1:41.272 – 14 laps)
The 2009 World Champion, after setting the 13th fastest time during the third practice session on Saturday, will start in 12th position on the grid on Sunday. Besides an outcome full of emotions, he approaches tomorrow’s race just as focused and cheerful, aiming to score points and have as much fun as possible until the end.
He recounts his last Saturday: « It was fun tonight. I enjoyed it. » He continues regarding the track conditions that required some adjustments: « As the track cooled, we had to balance the car with more grip at the front, but I didn’t get the response I wanted. As a result, the resulting understeer cost me time. »
Nevertheless, his 12th place on the grid seemed to satisfy him and even suggests a choice of different strategies that could prove to be beneficial: « To be fair, the 12th position is not so bad for tomorrow. We will be able to start with new tires. With the tire regulations [Editor’s Note: free choice beyond the 10th position], it is often better to start outside the top 10 in order to have a more flexible strategy for the race. And I prefer to have a good race tomorrow than to have a good qualifying session. »
The Briton concludes his remarks about the behavior of the tires in the race: « None of the specifications here last long. It will then be interesting to see what will happen tomorrow. Scoring points is quite possible. »
Fernando Alonso → FP3: 11th (1:42.585 – 13 laps) / Qualifying: 9th (1:41.106 – 17 laps)
In the other McLaren, Fernando Alonso considered himself happy to have reached the third part of qualifying and to have climbed to 9th place: « I think we should be happy today. It’s definitely a good qualifying for us. »
The Spaniard also comments on the changing track conditions between FP3 and qualifying in terms of temperatures: « The conditions are always difficult here because the practice sessions take place in high temperatures, while the qualifying sessions are held in cooler conditions. This means we need to anticipate what is going to happen and make adjustments somewhat blindly, as we never really know how much the conditions will change. »
The double World Champion ends his words on a positive note, even though he is aware that doing better tomorrow in the race will be difficult: « Our car seems competitive and getting into Q3 in 9th place during the last session of the season is extremely positive. We capitalized on the car’s performance today and got everything we could hope for. There is no major threat behind us in the Constructors’ Championship. It will be challenging tomorrow to finish higher in the standings. So we just have to enjoy this final race and hope to finish with good points. »
