Strong qualifying performance for McLaren
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team had a strong qualifying session this afternoon at the historic Spa-Francorchamps Circuit as Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix from 2nd on the grid and team mate Jenson Button is two rows further on the grid, starting from 5th.
Lewis Hamilton
MP4-25A-04
P3 programme
2nd 1m46.223s (+0.117s) 17 laps
Qualifying
Q1 6th 1m56.706s (on Options)
Q1 1st 1m46.211s (on Options)
Q1 2nd 1m45.863s (on Options)
“We’ve looked very fast all weekend, and the car’s felt great. Obviously, the Mercedes-Benz engine is the best suited to this circuit, and our car’s aerodynamic package also works well here.
“On my first run in Q3, I was the first driver into Turn 14, and the track was drying but still a bit wet, so I didn’t push hard enough and lost ground – maybe half a second.
“I thought we could have got pole, but I went a bit wide at La Source on my final run. There was one little patch of rain over Turn One, so it was a bit slippery, and I lost about three and a half tenths there. But I was able to extract some good time from the tyres in the second and third sectors – and that’s where I made up the time I lost in sector one.
“Still, it’s not essential to have pole here – I still feel like I’m in a good position. There’s a very long straight from Eau Rouge to the top of the hill, and it’s quite tricky to stay ahead of a chasing car, even if you’re on pole. I’m hopeful of getting a good start tomorrow, and we’ll take it from there.
“For tomorrow’s race, and in Monza, we need to capitalise on the fact that our package appears to be very competitive. Tomorrow will be a tough race, but we’ll keep pushing.”
Jenson Button
MP4-25A-03
P3 programme
4th 1m46.397s (+0.291s) 17 laps
Qualifying
Q1 9th 1m57.982s (on Options)
Q1 2nd 1m46.790s (on Options)
Q1 5th 1m46.206s (on Options)
“Our car feels good, and I think our pace has been good all weekend. I just wish I could be a bit further up. We ran used tyres at the start of Q3 and used tyres at the end, and two of the cars ahead of me put their best times in at the start of the session when it was dry.
“For my final run, there’d been a bit of rain in sector one, so I lost about three and a half tenths to my previous best Q3 lap in the first sector. I was down quite a bit but was able to pull it back in the middle and last sectors, which were quite competitive. I’m reasonably happy, but would have liked to have been a bit higher up.
“In qualifying, you obviously want to push the car to the limit, but it’s very tricky with this asphalt to see which parts of the surface are wet or dry. And, when you’re pushing as hard as you can, it’s very difficult to find the limit of the tyre in the wet. If you hit a wet patch, you’re off.
“Still, I’m fifth – on the good side of the grid – and in this sort of weather, anything can happen, so it’s pretty exciting. That’s the way it is, but I still think we can have a very good race with our car tomorrow.”
Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “For all the teams, the key to today’s qualifying session was managing things so that one’s drivers were on track at the right time on the right tyres – and, to the extent that Lewis and Jenson qualified second and fifth, I suppose we can be reasonably satisfied that we did a decent job.
“Having said that, with hindsight, if we’d started Q3 with new Option tyres rather than used Option tyres, we may well have been celebrating McLaren’s 147th Formula 1 pole position this afternoon.
“Equally, a small spot of rain came at just the wrong time for us. Without that, again, pole may well have been within our grasp.
“But I don’t want to sound churlish, because the team did a very good job and both drivers did an extremely good job.
“As for tomorrow’s race, well, the Spa-Francorchamps track is a glorious venue for grand prix racing, and you can be well sure that both Lewis and Jenson will be looking to attack from the start. The run down to Turn One is a relatively short one – but the long haul up to Eau Rouge may well offer overtaking opportunities on lap one and you can be well sure that both Lewis and Jenson will be looking for them.”
