Friday: Rain frustrates McLaren drivers
At home, the McLaren drivers hoped to put on a show in front of their audience and assess the real impact of the new regulations on diffuser blowing, but the rain decided otherwise, depriving the MP4-26 of valuable kilometers.
Lewis Hamilton – 8th and 4th
It’s a shame that it rained so much today because I really wanted to do the show for all the fans, but I’m glad the weather seems to be improving for the rest of the weekend. Fingers crossed!
Despite the lack of track time, the day was rather encouraging. We tested two or three things and I managed to find good sensations with the car.
It will be interesting tomorrow if it dries up because I think our car behaves quite well. The new rear wing seems to be quite positive but we still need to decide if we will use it tomorrow and Sunday for the race.
The reason I went to see the stewards to discuss the correct use of DRS in wet conditions is because the rule does not clearly state if we can use it with slick tires on a wet track, which is what we did this morning. The stewards just wanted to understand in order to clarify the regulation for the next race. I made some suggestions to make the regulation clearer and safer, so it was a rather useful visit.
Jenson Button – 15th and 5th
« Today, it has been a rather frustrating day for me. We thought we could accumulate more kilometers this afternoon but the rain made it impossible and we, therefore, couldn’t assess everything.
The balance of the car was good during free practice 1. Fortunately, it shouldn’t rain for the rest of the weekend, so we should have a better understanding of how the new interpretation of the regulations affects us by tomorrow.
The new facilities here at Silverstone are amazing. The only problem is at the pit exit where we can’t see the fans and they can’t see us! Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic effort from everyone involved.
