Jenson Button admits he was surprised to qualify 13th for the Russian Grand Prix, and thinks this is the “best” Saturday performance for McLaren-Honda at a power-sensitive track this year.
Coming off another tough outing at Suzuka for his team, the 2009 world champion travelled to Sochi with little expectations but still managed to advance to Q2 for only the fourth time in 2015.
But while Button was pleased to notice some improvements, the Briton nonethless remains realistic about his chances for Sunday’s race, given Honda’s continuing struggles with the energy recovery systems on their power unit.
“It was always going to be a very tricky circuit for us – and the race will be tougher than qualifying I am sure – and I didn’t expect to be P13 so it was a good job getting everything out of the car,” said Button.
“We got through to Q2 on pure speed rather than any issues other people had, which isn’t too bad.
“I think it’s our best qualifying on a power circuit, so it is progress.
“It’ll be a tough race for us because of the deployment we have, which will cost us lap time here, and then you have the issue that you use more fuel because you don’t have the deployment of other people and fuel is also an issue for us in terms of not having enough in the car.”
McLaren-Honda’s current campaign has since long been a write-off, with both partners eager to get a head start for 2016. Button, who decided to stay at Woking after hearing of “really exciting” plans, says he is buoyed by the partnership’s recent aggressive approach.
“We’re running the car a little bit different to normal here because there’s so much work going into next year, so that’s promising.
“It’s not just for next year, it’s just development – I think you take more risks with the car when you know you’re not really going for points. You try different things and I think that’s what we’ll be doing for the rest of the year.
“When you look at the power output that we have, and where the car is, it’s very good for a manufacturer in their first year in F1. If you look back at last year, where everyone else was, I think we’re doing a very good job, but we’re on the back foot at the moment because we’re a year behind. But we can catch that up over the winter.”
Rosberg beats Hamilton to Sochi pole
AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix qualifying
Gallery: Carlos Sainz's crash in FP3
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