McLaren and Jenson Button feeling confident after the Malaysian Grand Prix - Formula One
Jenson Button believed that their outing in the Malaysian Grand Prix was a giant leap forward for the somewhat struggling McLaren team. The former Brawn GP driver added that it was extremely encouraging coming out of the weekend with a lot of aggregate points
to lift the team’s constructors’ championship aspirations.
The Briton further commended the race engineers, the pit crew and everyone responsible for getting the car ready for the Grand Prix as the MP4 – 26 was in extremely good shape; perhaps the most reliable car out of the front runners on the weekend.
Reflecting on the race itself, Button highlighted that it was extremely important to look after the tyres. Talking about the setup of the car, he added that he took a lot of front wing out of the car. This meant that the McLaren under-steered considerably
which put further pressure on the tyres to balance out the affect. This also forced him to use a lot of braking which further degraded his Pirellis.
Therefore, in pursuit of getting more front end grip, the team looked to dial up more of the front wing which led to a comparative strong finish. Button also believed that the McLaren reacted really well to the hard compound tyres which he took on his third
and final pit stop.
Touching upon the situation with his teammate, Jenson felt that despite a problem during Hamilton’s pit stop, his overall pace was so good that he was confident that he would come out ahead of the former champion. In the latter stages of the race, even though
the word from the pit crew reflected caution, Button had enough faith in his machinery to have a shot at the race leader Sebastian Vettel.
While the race ended with the Red Bull still topping the charts, the British driver believed that the McLaren team should be extremely encouraged after their strong performance – calling it a good, strong package. However, Button still felt that that true
potential of the MP4 – 26 was still yet to be tapped and concluded that they could do so come round 3 of the Formula One championships.
In light of the overall unity in the McLaren camp, Button was hopeful that Shanghai would be a fruitful outing for Lewis Hamilton as well.
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