Saturday: McLaren drivers believe they made the right choice
Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez both qualified on medium tires - the hardest ones brought to India - today. Both McLaren drivers believe it was the best decision for the race given the significant degradation of the softs with fuel at the start.
Sergio Pérez – 13th and 9th:
« 9th is probably the best we could do this afternoon. We knew it was going to be complicated to beat Fernando [Alonso], but I might have done it if I had done one more lap with the mediums. But we need to save our tires for tomorrow, so it wasn’t the right thing to do. Clearly, we are on a different strategy from the other cars, so it will be interesting to see what we can do on mediums tomorrow. There are four other cars in the top 10 starting on mediums, so we’ll try to take advantage if the drivers on softs stop early tomorrow. I think we have a good chance for the race. Our pace on long stints seems strong – so, with a good strategy, I think we can do well tomorrow. »
Jenson Button – 9th and 10th:
« Running with mediums in Q3 was probably the best strategy for the race. Obviously, it costs me, because my heart was telling me I should be on softs. Our qualifying runs on softs seemed really good – I was the fastest in Q1 – but the mediums didn’t really work for us. I found it more difficult because I couldn’t get the tires up to temperature, so I was about a second and a half behind in the first sector in Q3. But, running with the mediums was probably the right thing to do, and I’m sure they’ll be the best tires for tomorrow. I expect an exciting race, full of twists and unpredictable. »
