Friday: McLaren makes progress and hopes for rain
McLaren left Melbourne with their heads down and aware that they would have to work hard to improve the performance of the MP4-28. Progress that already seems to be visible in Sepang, even though the gray car will probably not be able to play a leading role.
Jenson Button – 11th and 12th:
Today we completed a decent amount of work and gathered some useful information about the MP4-28. On a dry track, it performs better than in Melbourne but its pace is still not sufficient compared to the cars ahead. We’ve identified other improvements we can make before tomorrow, which is encouraging. It was a good day in terms of understanding.
The guys at the factory have worked as hard as possible to find performance. Every member of our team is doing an amazing job. It’s much easier to work on a car that wins races than on a single-seater that is not fully competitive.
Sergio Pérez – 13th and 11th:
« Today has been a busy day during which Jenson and I tried many things to decide which settings to choose for tomorrow and Sunday. Our car has improved since Melbourne, which is quite encouraging if you consider that we raced the Australian Grand Prix only four days ago. The car performs better both in dry and wet conditions. We should probably qualify better and have a better race in the rain compared to our competitors, so we wouldn’t mind if it rained a bit over the next few days. »
