Friday: The McLaren is still not up to standard

Jenson Button – 6th and 6th:

« We cannot yet definitively say whether the new features introduced for this race have improved the car. They may not be as big a step forward as expected – the problems with the car are still present – but the car seems a bit better.

We have worked very hard over the past few weeks to bring new parts here – which is nice. Today, it was mainly about putting mileage on these parts; we now have to sit down and analyze the data tonight – there’s a lot to study.

I feel that we will very often use the mediums in the race. The soft tires completely transform the car; on one lap, there is much more grip, but then you start to lose time on each following lap.

My puncture happened right after I decided to go through the pits. I reached the braking zone of turn 14, locked the front-left, and my tire punctured – there was a big hole. It’s a good thing that turn is just before the pit lane.

I don’t think we are going to fight at the front this weekend, but we will clearly battle against other teams.

Sergio Pérez – 16th and 11th:

« It was a difficult day for me, but an important day for the team. I had two off-track excursions – this morning, I was driving with cold and worn tires, locked the wheels, and hit the barrier. During free practice 2, we didn’t understand what happened because I wasn’t pushing at that moment.

I still think that we will be able to improve tomorrow. I will start from scratch because I will adopt new settings. This won’t make things easy, but I believe we collected interesting data today and this should allow us to make progress in the future.

The goal for tomorrow is to be in Q3. For Sunday, the tires will play an important role; managing degradation and adopting the best strategy will be essential, but I know the team is very strong in these areas, so I’m optimistic.

I think we can achieve a good result on Sunday.