McLaren driver Jenson Button: Potential victory missed, but that is the trend in Monaco – Formula 1
McLaren’s Formula 1 driver Jenson Button has stated that losing the Monaco Grand Prix after having a potentially sound car was a big disappointment for the team.
Button added that although some positives were there to learn from the Monaco Grand Prix but still the circumstances of the race turned out bad for him.
The British driver qualified in second place and was well on course to take his first victory of the 2011 season but it was not to be.
He said, “It's never satisfying to see a potential victory slip away from you, but that's Monaco, sometimes. There are still lots of positives to take away from the weekend, though.”
The Brit posted the second fastest lap in the Monaco qualifiers and said that had there not been a stoppage in the qualifiers, he or his teammate Lewis Hamilton could have gone faster.
“I was pleased with second, but, if it hadn't been for the red flag, I think we could've gone faster. Would it have been enough for pole? Who knows? But second was a good place to start. And it was all feeling pretty easy in the race,” commented Button.
The MP4-26 car of the McLaren team has shown some good progress in the last couple of races but they have been unlucky with the results.
In the Monte Carlo race, Button was going fastest in his last stint and could have soon caught up with the two front running drivers. As Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was on an old set of tyres, it was only a matter of time that either Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso
or Button overtook him.
However, as the race was stopped in the final moments after Vitaly Petrov crashed, teams were allowed to change tyres after which the advantage that Button had over the German was gone.
Nevertheless, Button stated that McLaren have improved well in the last month and are very much looking forward to the Canadian Grand Prix on June 12, 2011.
Canada will be helpful to the McLaren team because in the 2010 season, Hamilton and Button took a 1-2 podium finish. Let’s see if they can replicate their past performance this time around.
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