Saturday: There is hope in the McLaren clan
Jenson Button aimed to be the first driver on mediums on the grid tomorrow and he succeeded. The British driver was pleased with the progress of his McLaren and his qualifying session. He will surely have a chance to shine tomorrow, just like Sergio Pérez who will start a bit further back but will be eager to climb up the field to secure some points at the finish.
Jenson Button – 8th and 8th:
Our objective was to be the first on the grid with mediums – even if it meant starting 10th – and we achieved that. It was the best we could do.
Nevertheless, I think we can be very pleased with our performance during these qualifications: we didn’t really have the pace of the best, but finishing 7th in Q2 was really very satisfying. And finishing ahead of the two Red Bull in Q3, with a two-minute lap, was incredible!
All the guys at the front are going to start with worn soft tires, and I think there’s going to be a lot of graining with a lot of fuel on the softs as we saw during Friday’s practice, so it’s going to be a very interesting race.
The first 10 laps tomorrow promise to be eventful; if I can get a good start, I hope to be able to have some space in front of me, and then we will see what happens.
Sergio Perez – 9th and 12th:
« It has been a difficult weekend so far. I really should have been in Q3 today – but I couldn’t improve my time as much as the others in Q2. It was frustrating; getting the temperature into my tires before my fast lap wasn’t ideal, and I struggled to put everything together on that lap.
The tires will be complicated and unpredictable for everyone during the race tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough race, and one that will heavily rely on strategy. I have a very good team behind me and I know they will do a fantastic job providing me with the best possible strategy for tomorrow.
We can clearly do a good job and score some points.
