McLaren expected more from Chinese qualifying
The Vodafone McLaren Formula One Team expected more from the Chinese qualifying session this afternoon. Jenson Button will start tomorrow's race at the Shanghai track from 5th position, team mate Lewis Hamilton placed his car 6th on the grid.
Jenson Button:
MP4-25A-03
P3 programme
4th 1m35.747s (+0.424s) 14 laps
Qualifying
Q1 6th 1m36.600s (on Primes)
Q2 7th 1m35.443s (on Options)
Q3 5th 1m34.979s (on Options)
“I was struggling a little with the car in the first two sessions. By Q3, though, it was much better, but it was a little bit too late by then: the car felt quite different, balance-wise, and I had to play around with the diff and the front wing to find a good feeling in the car.
“So it wasn’t a bad lap; it’s just a bit frustrating that it took us that long in qualifying to get the balance right. But fifth is just about okay, and I think we’ll have a good car for the race tomorrow.
“It’s probably going to rain tomorrow anyway, so the set-up we have may well be pretty good in the wet conditions.”
Lewis Hamilton:
MP4-25A-01
P3 programme
2nd 1m35.564s (+0.241s) 12 laps
Qualifying
Q1 1st 1m35.641s (on Primes)
Q2 1st 1m34.928s (on Options)
Q3 6th 1m35.034s (on Options)
“I’m a little disappointed – we wanted to get pole today, and thought we could –, and I don’t really know where the time went in Q3.
“The tyres felt fine – pretty much exactly the same as in Q1 and Q2, when the car felt great – but in Q3 the car started moving around a lot more, and it felt like the front was bottoming.
“We’d been quick all weekend, but sixth was the best I could do in Q3. I think we ought to have been further up the grid – but we’ll fight our way as far up the field as we can tomorrow. I’m sure it will be a good race.”
Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “Lewis recorded good times in Q1 and Q2, but his Q3 lap was about 0.3s slower than we’d hoped for. We don’t yet know the reason for that – it could be a number of things – but of course we’ll analyse it. It’s a pity, though, because without that 0.3s deficit he’d have been on the front row for tomorrow’s race.
“As for Jenson, he put in a very good lap in Q3 on used Option tyres – but, again, so close were the times of the drivers who qualified between P2 and P8, that a tenth or two would have made a significant difference to his grid slot.
“So fifth and sixth aren’t ideal, but tomorrow the weather may well be more changeable than it was today, and both our drivers have great ability in such conditions.”
