Jenson Button relieved after testing upgraded MP4-26 during Australian GP practice sessions
McLaren’s Jenson Button has warned that his headlining fastest time of the Friday practice session during the Australian Grand Prix should not be considered as a ‘benchmark’ for the rest of the teams but he is pleased with his new car MP4-26’s reliability
after the team applied some new upgrades to it.
Jenson topped the timesheets during the second free practice session this Friday in Australia followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton proving that McLaren have improved their new car drastically since the team was unable to score some promising results during
the pre-season testing period.
“Today showed that, first of all, we've got reliability - which is great. That's something we've not had all winter, so to have a car that runs for as many laps as we want it to is very satisfying. It also means we can get stuck into our set-up work and
improve the car,” said Button.
This result is going to comfort the team a lot before the qualifying session and season opening race that is expected to take place at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on the March 27, 2011 and enable the team to perform at its best.
“I don't think there's much to be gained from looking at today's times though, so I'm not going to get too carried away. Still, it's been a positive day because we've been able to do so much running and get a good feeling for the car on different fuel-loads,”
he added.
Other than that, he stated that the team’s new upgrade package for this race includes a new exhaust and floor for the MP4-26 which has improved the car’s handling significantly.
Since both of the McLaren drivers have scored the best times of the day, it seems that the upgrade package suits both of the drivers and now the team is satisfied with its new car in terms of both reliability and pace.
Nevertheless, both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing Team are not so far either as their respective times were around 2 tenths of a second slower than McLaren during the second session as a result of which, the qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix is
going to be quite tough for the top running teams.
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