McLaren driver Jenson Button says 2011 title battle depends a lot on teams’ development – Formula 1
2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button has said that the championship battle of the drivers is in its true sense a development battle between the teams and technical staff.
Button added that the Turkish Grand Prix was a misjudgement of strategy due to which he lost some important points on offer.
Button stated that the cars on the grid are the real challengers and the technical team behind the development process of the car is the decisive factor.
He said, “The championship battle is basically a development race, and we stumbled a little bit in Turkey because the progress that we'd anticipated making wasn't quite there. But I know how this team reacts - they won't have liked having fallen off the
bubble in Turkey.”
Button had a bad pit-stop when he was released in the midfield drivers. He struggled to find a way past the slow running drivers and in the process ruined his tyres. Apart from the tyres strategy, Button had a great run in the car but was overtaken by Nico
Rosberg of Mercedes in the final few laps of the race.
The Brit finished the race in sixth position and was not happy about the strategy of his team. He said, “It's disappointing because, from the cockpit, I didn't really do anything wrong - I drove a clean, strong race and looked after the tyres, but I suffered
a bit as a result of that.”
The Brit further added that teams and drivers are still on the learning curve and every race of the 2011 season is behaving differently for every team.
Apart from Button’s eclipsed performance in the Turkish Grand Prix, the Brit has been fighting for a podium finish right from the start of the season. He managed to have a second place finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix and was close to claim a third place
in China.
Nevertheless, the season continues in Barcelona with the fifth race of the season and McLaren are still the second ranked team in the constructors table.
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