Formula One: Japanese Grand Prix – 1 race, 24 different reactions! (Part 3)
Next in line is word from the McLaren Mercedes camp.
McLaren Mercedes
Jenson Button reflected that he expected the drivers in front of his McLaren to struggle with the option tyres before the race. Therefore, it compromised his race strategy as he stayed longer than the rest of the pack on the harder compound tyres. However,
seeing as the gamble backfired, the Briton was neither able to pull ahead of the car behind, nor could he test the cars in front. He conceded that perhaps it was more sensible to pit at the same point as the other front runners and try his luck with the softer
compound.
Pressing on, the British driver commented that the team would analyse the data from the Japanese Grand Prix for future races and look to build on it. It was afterall a tough race considering the state of his tyres after the rest of the pack had rejoined
the track on new rubber. After switching his Bridgestones however, Button stated that the car felt great as he felt the right blend of grip and speed on that McLaren. On a realistic note though, they were still slower than the Red Bulls and ‘possibly’ the
Ferrari but finishing as they did, it was the best they could extract out of their machinery on the day.
Button concluded that after failing to improve his championship position at the end of the weekend, his title hopes were rather bleak as another race ticked off for the season. Coming to Japan with a few upgrades had mixed reactions; some parts worked while
other still needed tweaking. With the next race in Korea, the McLaren driver hopes that the team is able to get the right setting that is compatible with all the new upgrades. Hopefully, after all this, McLaren might return to its usual self and be able to
deliver the performance that so rightly sees them as one of the best constructors this season.
Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget at Japan. It started with the crash in first practice followed by the five place grid penalty after the gearbox change. If that wasn’t enough, his car developed another gearbox problem as he went round the Suzuka circuit
without a 3rd gear in the latter stages. However, despite a lot of things going wrong for the youngster, he claimed that they would bounce back come next race.
Going through the rather nervy end laps for the McLaren, Hamilton described that after losing 3rd gear, he had to rely heavily on fourth gear and above. A part of him feared that the car wouldn’t make the race distance, it was making a lot of
unhealthy noises and the best the driver could do was to keep his fingers crossed. He was also sensible about the affair as he tried not to push his transmission too much; trying not to shift too much. A lot of concentration saw the 2007 champion nurse his
McLaren to the finish line to see the chequered flag.
In the end, Hamilton felt extremely grateful that he was able to break his jinx of not lasting the entire race distance as was the trend observed in the past couple of Grand Prix. The feeling after finishing his first finish for a long time was relieving,
to the very least. Looking at the bigger picture, the championship prospects looked rather dreary for the McLaren. On an optimistic note, the British driver pointed out that the 3 remaining races potentially provided a total of 75 points and that was something
that he wanted to use as motivation for trying just as hard as he has since the start of the season. He stated that the McLaren camp shall continue pushing the rest of the top end constructor’s for the remaining 3 races and that he himself would ‘keep fighting’.
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