Saturday: Kevin Magnussen places McLaren on the second row
McLaren made numerous improvements at Hockenheim that seem to be working. Kevin Magnussen secured a nice fourth place while Jenson Button, who says he was hindered by Romain Grosjean, did not make it past Q2. He will start 11th on the grid.
Kevin Magnussen (No. 20) – 6th and 4th
The young Dane hadn’t experienced such a party in qualifications since… his first Grand Prix, in Australia. It was a great satisfaction for him to be able to outperform McLaren’s main rivals at the moment, Red Bull: « It was a good day for me. I think we got the most out of the car in terms of setup, and our strategy throughout qualification was perfect. Thanks to all the guys in the garage: they did a fantastic job. It’s a great achievement to be ahead of both Red Bulls, and I feel like we are not that far from the really strong teams. »
Such a performance was only possible thanks to the numerous improvements made by the Woking team: « There is no secret to our improvement: hard work made the difference. We don’t have the best car yet, but it is balanced and we can attack with it. I think we can consistently get the best out of it. The car behaves quite differently with the new rear wing. So once again, thanks to all the men and women at the factory for doing such a great job and getting it on the track so quickly. »
But he does not expect to achieve the same performance in the race as in Australia, where he finished second: « Tomorrow is going to be another story. Weather forecasts indicate it will be cooler and there might be rain. So we might have more difficulty in the race than today, but it’s not a bad thing to start 4th. »
Jenson Button (n°22) – 13th and 11th
For Jenson Button, his qualification was severely compromised by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, which was very slow in the final sector. In qualifying, I had traffic on my first lap in Q2. That cost me the chance to get into Q3. He wasn’t even on a new set of tires during that stint. So he wasn’t going to set a fast lap. During my last stint in Q2, the car’s balance was very different, with a lot of oversteer. I wasn’t fast enough.
He knows that the car’s pace isn’t at its best when it’s hot, but he hopes it will be less hot: « For tomorrow, our pace on long stints wasn’t very good on Friday. We struggled in the heat but I think we can do better if cooler conditions materialize on Sunday afternoon. »
