Saturday: McLaren couldn’t do better today

Jenson Button – 12th and 11th:

I am higher on the grid than I expected after the free practice sessions. Yesterday, I didn’t think we would qualify ahead of a Ferrari and just behind the two Lotuses. But I was happier in qualifying than I’ve been all weekend: we need to focus on the fact that we’ve improved the car. I think 11th is the best we could have done today. Even if we had reached Q3, we probably would have finished 10th. So starting 11th allows me to have a new set of tires and I will be able to start on the clean side of the track.

After Q2, I walked along the pit lane to the FIA scales, waving to the crowd. There were so many Union Jacks and red caps and the fans were incredible throughout the weekend. You always want to do a good job in front of your home crowd. So I just want to say a big thank you to them for their support.

You never know what can happen tomorrow: starting 11th isn’t great but you can have a good race from there. I’m going to drive my heart out to get a good result.

Sergio Perez – 18th and 14th:

It was a difficult day. The puncture during the third free practice session wasn’t ideal to prepare for qualifying. It made things even harder as we had to replace my damaged floor with the old version. This afternoon, I struggled to get my tires up to temperature during Q2. I lost temperature when I was stopped and weighed on the FIA scales. We were a bit unlucky all day.

Nevertheless, we are still much closer than we were yesterday. Even if it is not visible, we have clearly made improvements, and I think we even had the potential to make it to Q3 if we had been a bit luckier. Our race pace should be better than in qualifying. Tomorrow will still be difficult, but I am positive about what can happen now.