Lewis Hamilton – 1st and 2nd<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00ab It would have been nice to have pole position, but Red Bull, as always, was very fast in Q3! But we have managed to reach a point where our car works particularly well on certain circuits, and that seems to be the case here. Being so competitive from the start of the weekend is encouraging – we are on the front row, and we can therefore have a good race. And, for the first time in a while, my pace on the long runs seemed good too, and I think we had more fuel than other teams. So I am quite confident for tomorrow actually. \u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab I hope to get a good start – I really want to take the first corner first. But if I can’t, I’ll follow Sebastian very closely, I’ll do everything to not let him get more than a second ahead, and then I’ll try to overtake with the DRS. Last year, I started second but braked early at the first corner and Sebastian got through. I simply told him that it wouldn’t happen tomorrow. \u00bb<\/p>\n
Jenson Button – 4th and 3rd<\/b><\/p>\n
I didn’t really manage to find a balance that suits me well throughout the weekend. The single-seater changed a lot for the qualifying session. During practice, I had difficulties with the rear; but during qualifying, I suddenly had more grip at the rear and a lot of understeer – so the single-seater seemed completely different.<\/p>\n
\u00abOf course, you can do a number of things during qualifying to manage that, so we did everything to make the car healthier, and I am much happier than before as a result. Third is not such a bad spot on the grid – hopefully one of us can be ahead of the Red Bulls tomorrow.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Martin Whitmarsh – Director of the McLaren Mercedes team<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00ab It might seem a little rude to say that we are a bit disappointed to be second and third today, but to be honest we are a bit disappointed. Being second and third is obviously a great result – it’s a good foundation to try to win tomorrow actually – but I admit that we were aiming for pole position today.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Lewis and Jenson have both done a superb job – and given their driving qualities, I look forward to the race tomorrow because I expect a good performance from them. Our pace on long runs has been very good throughout the weekend, and I think we are just as good with the mediums and the softs.<\/p>\n
\u00ab People keep saying that it’s difficult to overtake here in Abu Dhabi – and that’s true. But there are two DRS zones, and obviously the straight before the first corner. Beyond that, you need to have a good strategy, and let’s say we’ll try to put pressure (on Red Bull) tomorrow afternoon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and the entire McLaren team hoped to secure pole position today in Abu Dhabi. However, Hamilton and Button were ultimately outpaced by Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton will therefore start second tomorrow and Button third, but both men intend to do everything they can to ensure the reigning double world champion does not escape at the start, and they will then try to play their hand to win the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":42102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[92,947,1726],"class_list":["post-20611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-bilan","tag-mclaren","tag-yas-marina-island"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n