Friday: Several Small Steps Forward for McLaren
After being outpaced at the Turkish Grand Prix by teams other than Red Bull, McLaren reacted ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix by bringing no less than twelve new parts for their car.
Lewis Hamilton – 6th and 2nd
It’s difficult to keep an accurate reading of our pace; we followed our schedule today and didn’t seem too far off, but you never know how much fuel or engine wear the other teams are running with. Afterward, we got some good data and made some improvements, and if everything goes well, it seems like we are as competitive as in the past.
« We made a few small steps forward, we brought a new front wing, and it naturally proved to be a bit better. Overall, it’s not bad. It wasn’t very good this morning with the hard tires, which are difficult to warm up and make last, but the afternoon was very positive. »
There is a big difference between the two types of tires, and this will hopefully have a positive impact on the weekend’s event.
Jenson Button – 9th and 4th
The morning was spent driving with the new systems on the car; the afternoon was therefore the time to push a bit harder and get a good feeling for everything. I am not particularly satisfied with the balance – I am struggling with the rear which is not something I enjoy – but I will work to improve that overnight.
We have a little more speed in reserve, we just need to unleash it and find a balance that I appreciate. The long runs are reasonable, even though it yielded a different result than I expected. But it’s all good information and I think we can find a good balance for the race. Now, I need to focus on the rear-end issue for qualifying.
Martin Whitmarsh
« For this morning’s session, we deliberately followed separate programs on each car to ensure we gather as much data as possible on our planned upgrades. We limited ourselves to running with the same fuel load and the same tires for the entire session, and we also ran without DRS, which means our times during FP1 are not truly representative.
Furthermore, we have obtained a significant amount of positive data and were able to merge two distinct development pathways into the same program this afternoon, with encouraging results.
Even though neither Lewis nor Jenson are completely satisfied with the balance of their car, it seems we have made some good progress. Inevitably, we still have a large amount of data to analyze tonight, but we are confident that we can take a good step in the right direction for tomorrow.
In one word, it’s a positive day.
