Jenson Button says he is surprised McLaren is so quick over one lap in China but believes race pace will suffer as a result.
The 2009 world champion finished FP2 in tenth place at Shanghai, with team-mate Fernando Alonso 12th as the MP4-30 worked well on the soft tyres. Having been more competitive in race trim in Malaysia, Button says he expects the opposite to be true this weekend following Friday practice.
"It’s a little bit of a surprise, but you know I came into this weekend worried about the front tyres and I now think we’ve gone too far trying to look after them," Button said.
"Even when you change the balance of the car, you still have understeer in the high-speed corners and Turn 1 – its just the way this circuit is, you overheat the surface [of the tyre] and I hurt the rears in doing so. It’s just balance tweaks for tomorrow and Sunday and I think we can find some relatively good time in the long runs."
Button believes the car is strongest on the soft tyre but says McLaren can still make strides with the race pace after being pleased with the improvements brought by Honda.
"I think the McLaren-Honda developments have been a good step forward this weekend and it’s been a real pleasure to drive. Obviously, it’s still a long way off the pace but it’s good progress.
"Power unit is better but there is still a long way to go. Drivability was tricky this morning and we’ve helped it a lot through the weekend. It’s always difficult with different temperatures, different layouts and what have you, but we made a lot of improvements today which is the key thing. Hopefully we get to keep going for tomorrow…"
By Chris Medland in Shanghai
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