Friday: McLaren hopes for rain in Brazil

Jenson Button – 4th and 22nd:

It was very slippery today, and we even experienced aquaplaning at high speed on the straights, which is unusual. Fortunately, we did a lot of laps this morning and felt that the conditions were stable enough to allow us to run on intermediate tires. We did a long stint with a lot of fuel, and we also did a flying lap with little fuel, and each time the car seemed fine.

The afternoon session was more about waiting for the weather to improve a bit for us to continue running with intermediates. This allowed us to redo what we did this morning to measure the changes we made between sessions. We obtained useful information. In these conditions, it would have been good to have more tires to run with: rainy conditions represent opportunities for us, but it’s also a risk, so we will see how the rest of the weekend unfolds. The forecast indicates that it will be unpredictable for the rest of the weekend.

Sergio Pérez – 7th and 17th:

It is very difficult to know precisely how our car is functioning: I haven’t done many laps in each session, and those I did were done in different conditions from our rivals. I’m not perfectly happy with the settings but, at least by driving a little, we understood what we can change for tomorrow. If the conditions remain the same for tomorrow, I think we will make a step forward.

If the conditions are dry, we probably know where we will end up; but if it’s wet, we can have a good race. Our current forecast says that qualifying will be wet and that, for the race, it’s 50-50. But you never really know in Sao Paulo…