Summary – McLaren Leaves with Head Held High
Lewis Hamilton – 3rd: The third place was a very good result for us today. I think we did a good job. Our reliability was good, and the pace today was quite good, but we still need to push very hard to close the gap with the cars in front. My race was decided in […]
Lewis Hamilton – 3rd:
The third place was a very good result for us today. I think we did a good job. Our reliability was good, and the pace today was quite good, but we still need to push very hard to close the gap with the cars in front.
My race was decided in the first lap when I locked my wheels at turn four, went a bit wide, and Nico [Rosberg] passed me. After that, I spent the end of the first stint behind him, but just couldn’t get close enough to him.
After the refueling, I came out ahead of him, thanks to my mechanics, thank you guys. Then I was able to make up ground on Felipe. If I hadn’t been stuck behind Nico, I think I could have been able to fight with Felipe for second place.
It might be difficult for us to close the performance gap immediately, but I believe I will return to the factory and give them as much help as possible.
Jenson Button – 7th:
At the start of the race, I didn’t know how my tires would perform, which is why I didn’t push much. I was a bit disappointed for not having done so earlier, because I probably conserved my tires a bit too much, since in the last five laps of the first stint, I was able to push to catch up with Mark and Michael.
With my stop, I passed Mark, which was interesting. It was a very good pit stop, as well as for Lewis, because each of us overtook the car in front.
Overall, I think our car is very good, but there is always room for improvement and I think everyone in the team wants more speed and more downforce.
Martin Whitmarsh:
« Lewis and Jenson raced very well here in Bahrain this afternoon. After the disappointment of our qualifying performances yesterday, our race pace today was very encouraging. In fact, in the latter part of the race, Lewis was the fastest car on the track.
However, like Jenson, who got stuck in traffic right from the start, Lewis was slightly held up by Nico in the early laps. As a result, neither of our drivers were able to show their true race pace until their pit stops.
Fortunately, our two drivers benefited from excellent pit stops, so I would like to take this opportunity to say Well done to the team for choosing the two pit stops at the right time and executing them so efficiently.
Overall, we are satisfied with our haul of 21 points at today’s world championship, and we aim to continue developing our car with the hindsight of this very promising first outing. Our goal is to be fully competitive in Australia.
