Friday: Button and McLaren start their weekend well in Canada
Jenson Button was quite satisfied at the end of the first day of testing in Montreal, and he believes that the McLaren will be competitive, although work will be needed to get the best out of it. For his debut in Canada, Kevin Magnussen is also happy.
Kevin Magnussen (No. 20) – 8th and 8th
The Dane discovered the Gilles Villeneuve track and he appreciated it: « It was obviously my first time on this circuit, and I really enjoyed driving – it’s a good track. There are nice sequences of corners and good braking zones – for a rather slow circuit, it’s really cool. »
On the performance side, things seem to have started well with his McLaren even though there are still some uncertain aspects: The car seems good, which is positive, and hopefully, I can save my tires during the race. If it continues to get hotter this weekend, then tire overheating could become a problem. It will be the same for everyone, so we will have to manage it as best we can.
Jenson Button (No. 22) – 7th and 9th
The Briton is quite confident for this race because the characteristics of the Montreal circuit suit the McLaren: « In theory, this circuit should suit us; our car is good on the straights, there are not many fast corners, and we have the softest tires, so it should be fine. »
But there is still work to be done because not everything was perfect: The long runs this morning seemed good, but we made some changes to the settings for the second session, which wasn’t too bad with little fuel, but it wasn’t as effective when we ran with more fuel.
Button remains optimistic nonetheless because this Friday was a very useful day for him.
