Even though the McLaren Formula One team is confident that their new developments have given them a clear step forward, this afternoon’s qualifying session here at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany didn’t yield the results they were looking for with Jenson Button admitting he got the most out of the car but was still seven tenths of a second off pole pace, securing fifth place on teh grid for tomorrow’s race as a result.
“It took a little bit of time for us to get used to the balance of the car this weekend. I was pretty happy with my final lap, so I don’t know where the extra seven tenths [to pole] is. And that’s the slightly worrying thing: it was a good lap, and I don’t really think there was anything else I could’ve got out of the car,” he said.
“But we’ve definitely made a step forward with the blown diffuser – it’s still not quite enough in qualifying spec, but, hopefully, we’ll see some more performance tomorrow. From fifth on the grid, we can still have a good race, and this is a fun place to go racing. The first lap is usually pretty hectic, so I’ll be hoping to pass some cars early on. I definitely think we can get a great result tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, teammate Lewis Hamilton, who win the last time out here in 2008, qualified one place behind the reigning world champion in sixth place, meaning that the Woking based squad have locked out row three. However, just like his teammate, Lewis believes he couldn’t have found any more time.....
“My qualifying pace wasn’t great today – there was definitely a bit more time to be gained somewhere. I did the best job I could – it’s just that the two teams in front did a slightly better job,” he said. “We’re the fastest down the straights, but we don’t have quite enough downforce at the moment. We’ll keep on pushing, but we know we have more work to do.”
“Still, I think there’ll be an improvement in our performance relative to the others tomorrow, because our race pace is generally better than our qualifying pace. Hopefully, the weather will be good, too, so we can push the guys in front and try and make up some places.”
“No-one at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is ever going to be fully satisfied by a qualifying session that results in our cars qualifying only fifth and sixth – but we have reason to be confident that our race pace will be stronger,” added Martin Whitmarsh. “Our straight-line speed is impressive – perhaps more than we needed for an optimal qualifying set-up – but it’s likely to pay dividends tomorrow.”
“As ever, both Jenson and Lewis will be looking to make up places early on, and thereafter they’ll approach the race with their usual combination of combative ambition and disciplined adherence to a race strategy that we hope will bag them another decent haul of world championship points. And, having scored 149 points out of a possible 172 in the past four races, we’re focusing on maintaining our consistency above all else.”
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