Saturday: McLaren is well-positioned for the race
If Jenson Button was hindered in Q2 by Kimi Räikkönen and couldn't get into the top 10, his teammate, Sergio Pérez, only managed to do so thanks to a 10-place grid penalty incurred by Mark Webber. With their high top speed, both McLaren drivers hope to climb up the standings during tomorrow's race.
Sergio Perez – 14th and 10th
« My fastest lap wasn’t too bad. I locked my wheels a bit at turn 15 but I don’t think it cost me much time. So I think we finished with everything we could do today. We’ve worked out some useful settings for tomorrow afternoon and we’ve also set up a seventh gear that’s long enough to allow us a few overtakes. I’m really looking forward to the race. We really have to score points tomorrow and I think we’re in a good position to do that. »
Jenson Button – 10th and 11th
« On my fastest lap, I lost a tenth and a half behind Kimi Räikkönen in turns 11 and 12. It’s quite frustrating: these are fast corners, and when you get close to the car in front of you, it harms your lap. It’s difficult because most of the corners are blind, but we all have radios. So we should all know where the other drivers are. It’s really a shame: without that delay, I’m almost sure I could have qualified in the top 10.
However, there are positive things for tomorrow. We have new tires for the race. Turns 1, 3, and 4 are always very interesting on the first lap and we have an intriguing top speed compared to our rivals, both in terms of ratio and aerodynamic force. Therefore, the first two laps should be interesting for us. Let’s hope we can move forward tomorrow.
