Friday: McLaren wants to compete with the teams ahead of it
After missing out on points in the last two races, which is a first for the team since 2004, McLaren wants to be able to attack the teams that are usually ahead of them. Both drivers seem confident and are aiming for Q3 tomorrow.
Jenson Button – 7th and 9th
« The car seemed pretty good as soon as I left the garage this morning. We are still quite far from the front positions, but our pace compared to the cars around us doesn’t seem too bad. The general feeling with the car isn’t so bad.
The Pirelli tires work very well here; of course, the Options [the soft tires] have better grip than the Primes [the medium tires]. It seems the idea with these two compounds is to give us a qualifying tire that doesn’t last very long — the Options — and a race tire — the Primes. It’s not a bad compromise, it forces us to manage tires that don’t last too long on Sunday.
We are not going to fight with the cars at the top of the grid this weekend, but it would be nice to be able to attack the teams that are normally just ahead of us.
Sergio Perez – 10th and 14th
« I think this has been our best Friday for a few races – partly because of the dry weather, but also with the amount of useful work done.
We are in the same position as last weekend – the potential of our car hasn’t changed much – but I think tomorrow we can fight to reach Q3. It should still be tough, but that’s our goal.
