Saturday: Jenson Button aims for the podium for McLaren
Of all the teams powered by Mercedes, McLaren is the lowest ranked after qualifying, with Jenson Button in 7th place and Kevin Magnussen in 9th. Nevertheless, the Briton believes that the third place on the podium remains attainable at the end of the race.
Jenson Button (n°22) – 6th and 7th [6th on the grid]
For his 250th race, Jenson Button believes he did everything he could during these qualifications: Even if we didn’t qualify where we wanted, as a team, we have to acknowledge that we’ve done an almost perfect job so far this weekend. It was very close, we did everything we could and finished very near the fourth place. All you can do is get the best out of the car, and that’s what we did.
For tomorrow’s race, we will need to follow the example of what was done in Australia and Malaysia, namely scoring points. The 2009 world champion even believes he could join the Mercedes drivers on the podium: « During the four distant races, it is essential to score points whenever you can. We did this well in the first two races, and we have to keep doing it. We are not the fastest. So, we must do our best with what we have and who we are. It would be great to finish on the podium tomorrow, but it will be very difficult because the first two places are completely reserved as long as the two Mercedes are reliable. But let’s stay positive: we have an opportunity to fight for gaining places tomorrow, and the third place is only three spots ahead of our sixth place on the grid. »
Kevin Magnussen (No. 20) – 11th and 9th [8th on the grid]
The young Dane was therefore dominated by his teammate during the Bahrain qualifications and is not satisfied with his performance: « To be honest, I’m not entirely satisfied with my qualifying position today. We hoped the cooler temperatures would give us an advantage and help us a bit, but it didn’t work out as expected. That being said, Jenson did a great job and managed to get more out of the car than I did. I think that’s the maximum we could have achieved today. »
The McLaren rookie hopes not to repeat the same mistake as at the start in Malaysia to avoid ruining his chances of scoring points: « Our race pace could be better than in qualifying. We should therefore have a better result tomorrow and be able to fight for points. But first, I need to make a clean start. I don’t want to damage my front wing at the first corner. »
