McLaren believe Pirelli compounds are the reason behind poor show at Valencia – Formula 1 news
Jenson Button of McLaren-Mercedes suggested that the issue was with the handling of the tyres that caused all of the trouble during the race.
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel dominated for the most part of the European Grand Prix. Vettel was so fast in the race that at one point he was 20 seconds ahead of the second placed driver.
Even Lewis Hamilton who was fancying his chances of securing a victory at the venue was unable to match up to the pace of Vettel. McLaren was the team that was tipped to be the leaders of the season in the earlier in the year.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo also showed some worrying over the pace of the Red Bull car even though Fernando Alonso went on to win the race as Vettel had to retire because of an engine failure.
McLaren however could not even match Ferrari in the race and was closely challenged by the Lotus cars. Martin Whitmarsh realises that the car had trouble managing the tyres and it has been an issue for some time now. It is most effecting Button who has not
been able to perform to his potential after the opening race of the season in Australia.
“It was a bad day in the office and I think we really struggled with the tyres,” he explained. “The inherent pace was where you were on your tyres.”
“Lewis struggled on the first set and was better on the prime in truth, but ultimately it went away – and that could have happened to Sebastian as well, I don't know. When your competitors are showing that sort of pace it is always a concern, but I think
we know well this year that what determines the underlying pace of the cars is quite challenging and quite difficult,” he added.
He added that the team needs to keep on pushing and that is the only way to move forward in a season that has been very competitive.
It will be interesting to see how McLaren fare in the coming races and how Button learns to handle the Pirelli compounds.
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