Jenson Button says McLaren will be rewarded for its hard work following a frustrating weekend ended with him failing to start the Bahrain Grand Prix.

An electrical issue caused Button's car to shut down on the second lap of FP1 and he proceeded to stop on track again in FP2 and qualifying, being allowed to start the race despite failing to set a time. However, McLaren then found the problem still existed when firing up the car ahead of the race and as a result Button was unable to start.

While Button was understandably frustrated at his weekend, he says there are still positives he can take from the pace shown by Fernando Alonso's car.

“Obviously, that was a disappointing day to end a disappointing weekend," Button said. “However, although I was unable to get the running I required, and was also unable to make the start of today’s race at all, it’s clear that our car is improving, and that’s good news for all of us.

“That’s a result of a lot of hard work. In particular, I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to the boys in the garage, who worked unbelievably hard all weekend for so little reward. Their commitment and team spirit are massively impressive, and I know we’ll get the rewards they deserve in the end.”

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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.

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