Friday: McLaren not so far from Red Bull
McLaren believes that Red Bull will be untouchable during the qualifications but thinks that its race pace should allow it to compete with the Austrian cars during the race. Button wasn't too far off the pace of the two RB8s, while Lewis Hamilton needs to improve his car's balance to be able to fight at the front.
Jenson Button – 10th and 4th:
« It’s complicated to find the right settings here. We are not fast enough yet, but we are heading in the right direction. We made progress throughout the day. This morning’s session was more about trying out the new parts and making sure that everything worked correctly, and less about finding the right set-up. »
« For now, it seems that we are almost as fast as the Red Bulls, who will probably be difficult to beat in qualifying, but our race pace and consistency seem good. »
« I think the track has experienced most of its evolution today so the adjustments we made seem positive and there is room for improvement. »
Lewis Hamilton – 1st and 8th:
« I struggled a bit with the settings today. There was a big difference in feeling between FP1 and FP2, which we don’t understand yet. This morning’s session was good, but I made a few changes for the afternoon and wasn’t able to achieve a good time either with the soft or super soft tires. »
We are now going to work hard to find which direction to take. The Red Bulls seem fast, but Jenson wasn’t that far off their pace this afternoon. So that’s good. We will make some changes for balance tonight and hopefully, we will be in better shape tomorrow. As I said, this afternoon Jenson showed that we had a good pace, and all we need to do is capitalize on it. If we can improve the balance tonight, I think we can be competitive.
