Saturday: McLaren improves with Button 8th, Magnussen unlucky
The Woking team is showing signs of progress since the last Grand Prix, even though Kevin Magnussen was unable to run in Q2 due to a problem with his power unit.
Jenson Button (No. 22) – 8th and 8th
The English veteran notes that it’s difficult for all drivers to find grip on the track and although he tested different settings in FP3, he still had too much understeer at the start of qualifying.
While congratulating himself on the progress made by his team this weekend, he is already thinking about the race: There will be a lot of sliding during tomorrow’s race. We’ve done a pretty good job saving a set of medium tires – I don’t know yet what strategy we’ll adopt, but it’s a good thing to have some leeway for strategy.
Kevin Magnussen (No. 20) – 6th and 15th [14th on the grid]
During Q1, the young Danish driver experienced an issue with his power unit that his team tried to fix before ultimately deciding to forgo Q2 to preserve the engine.
He explains how he plans to approach the race: « My goal will be to have a clean first lap, but I think it will be a bit difficult – our qualifying pace seems a bit better than our race pace. »
