Saturday: Luck was not on McLaren’s side
No McLaren driver managed to get into Q3 today in Montreal, Pérez struggled with his tires after the red flag while Button didn't make it across the line in time to start a new lap. But both men hope to take advantage of tomorrow's race to climb up the hierarchy.
Sergio Pérez – 19th and 12th:
« It was a really tricky session – it was difficult to get the most out of things, and in the end, luck wasn’t with us. The red flag at the end of Q1 affected me because I was about to set a good time. Then, with only two minutes remaining, I didn’t have a traffic-free run – as a result, I couldn’t get my tires up to temperature.
The fact that some managed to improve is frustrating, but that’s sports; sometimes you do things well, and sometimes you don’t. It’s a shame, because I think we had the pace to be in Q3 today. Our focus is now on the race, and I think we can still score good points tomorrow. It’s not over.
Jenson Button – 9th and 14th:
« Today’s qualifying session was one of those sessions where either everything works in your favor, or everything goes against you. And we weren’t lucky this afternoon. We had yellow flags, a red flag; and when the session resumed, I crossed the line about half a second too late to start my last timed lap.
We weren’t as competitive as we thought, and 14th isn’t the position I wanted to start from, but the good news is that we can overtake here. A race with mixed conditions tomorrow could be good for us.
