Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button unhappy with pace despite P6

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Jenson Button says McLaren needs to analyse why it was not as competitive as expected despite finishing sixth in the United States Grand Prix.

In a dramatic race in Austin, Button eventually finished in sixth place after numerous on track battles. However, in the early stages he complained about the pace of his McLaren and he believes the end result should not mask the underlying lack of performance.

“I have to say our pace here was nowhere near what we were expecting," Button said. "Compared to Toro Rosso, they were so much quicker, a lot faster than I expected around here, especially on the medium and faster corners, as were weren’t nearly as fast as we were expecting. We need to go home and look at the reasons for that."

Having secured the best result of his season, Button praised McLaren's handling of a race with unsettled weather and a number of Safety Car interventions.

"It was a tough day, so I’m happy to come away with sixth place, thanks to good strategy. I think we did a good job with that but apart from that the pace of the car was not exciting. While the track was drying I really enjoyed myself, as always, as I could make a bit of a difference there.

"But as soon as it’s dry, everyone knows where they can brake, so it’s more difficult for us. It’s great to get some points at the end of an interesting race. There were a lot of calls to be made and I always enjoy that, but I didn’t enjoy the pace. And it was completely dry for most of the race, so we also had quite a bit of graining for us."

And Button had time for his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton after he won his third world championship.

"Also, congratulations to my fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton for his title. Great job, mate, and from what I saw on TV it looked like a great race for everyone.”

Hamilton takes title after dramatic USGP victory

Lewis Hamilton: Three-time F1 world champion

AS IT HAPPENED: United States Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.