Saturday: Optimism is the order of the day in the McLaren camp
The McLaren team was hoping for much better from this qualifying session, but both of its drivers encountered some difficulties with their tires in the rain. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton managed to limit the damage and expect to have a much more interesting race on dry ground, with a car that has so far proven to be faster than in the rain in Germany.
Jenson Button – 24th and 7th [6th on the grid]:
« We struggled to get the tires working properly today – when you can’t get temperature into the tires, you don’t know their limits because they’re cold, and you also can’t brake too hard because otherwise, you’ll lock the wheels. It’s an issue we’ve had for several races and an area where we need to improve. In dry conditions, our pace is really good: we’re only having tire issues when it rains. We need to solve these tire temperature problems because they’re penalizing us – and it has been a difficult day for us as a result.
However, we can take away some positives, such as the fact that our car seems fast in dry conditions, and with the new updates introduced this weekend, we have been able to make a step forward. Everyone can be proud of their efforts not only for making the updates work well but also for managing to bring them in time for this weekend. Today has been a complicated day, but I hope to have a good race tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton – 2nd and 8th [7th on the grid]
We might be a bit disappointed with our final result in these qualifications; we seemed good both in Q1 and Q2, so I don’t understand how others could have been faster as the track was drying slightly at the end of Q3. We are still in a good position for tomorrow, even if we are not starting from the best possible spots, our car seems better in the dry, and with a race planned in these conditions tomorrow, I think we can have a good race. On Sunday, I plan to overtake everyone from the back. The good thing about Hockenheim is this large DRS zone on the straight – so hopefully Jenson and I can make many overtakes there tomorrow!
