Button hails “massive step forward” despite Q1 exit

2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Jenson Button says McLaren have made a “massive step forward” with their car despite both MP4-30s being eliminated in Q1 at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Button will share the ninth row of the grid with Fernando Alonso, with only the two Manor cars behind them.

While he admitted the team “hoped to be a bit closer to the cars in front of us”, Button feels they have still taken “a massive step forward in performance” this weekend.

“I think our race pace – and our consistency over a long run – look like giving us a little extra. I’d like to think we could get closer to some of the cars in front tomorrow; that’ll be something to look forward to.

“There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend: we’ve made a big step forwards in terms of pace. There’s more to come from the engine and the aero package, but we know what to do.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    21 comments on “Button hails “massive step forward” despite Q1 exit”

    1. You could almost copy paste hist lines and just alter the circuit/country.

      1. Or bag a driver for answering a question openly & honestly…….

    2. Verstappen has shown again there is nothing special about F1 drivers. The cars are far to easy to drive

      1. He has shown that he has a special talent.

      2. @ean how on earth has Verstappen shown that?? Just because he is 17, he is almighty talented and could well be better than many other drivers on the grid.

        1. Rubbish I have been following motorsport for more than 50 years not just F1 and if no one can see this then its their problem

          1. How can you say that unless you have driven these cars yourself? sounds more like “things were better in my day” kind of comment than anything else

          2. Looks like you haven’t learned much about motor sport even after following it for half a century :-)

          3. This is qualifying, not the race, the priorities are different in qualifying from those when racing.

          4. @Ean – agree. Crofty drove a Lotus (how did he fit???!!!) & didn’t even crash. Remember Hammond trying to drive a Renault V10 F1?? Nuff said.

          5. Why don’t you just call it quits then and spare us your silly comments if you believe F1 drivers are no good? I was gonna leave a witty comment saying you should give it another 50 years and maybe you would get a little wiser. Then I thought better of it. Another 50 years probably isn’t enough.

      3. I just don’t get this attitude. When a young, highly talented, person comes up in other sports (baseball, basketball, football, etc.) the refrain isn’t, “wow, the sport is just too easy.” I understand F1 might not be as physical as it used to be, but to think it doesn’t require a massive amount of skill is crazy in my opinion.

        1. Verstappen has only raced in 48 car races in his life most of them F3 Do you think he is better than Button, Alonso and others who has had more F1 races than this. If you tell me that they do not have a good cars that cannot compete then it proves my point.

          1. No it doesn’t prove your point. Your point is that the cars are easy to drive, not that having a good car will make you faster. Maybe another 50 years and you will understand F1.

      4. Clearly Verstappen has a superior car. Look, his teammate is right beside him… oh, uh, Sainz is 9 places behind. Okay, that’s a fluke. It’s still the car. None of the better cars are behind him… except for that Ferrari, and the two Williams and the Saubers that showed promise in the last race. Well, all the best drivers are ahead of him. It’s not like there are any “world champions” slotted in behind him… uh, except for Raikkonen, Button and Alonso (and a “near miss” with Massa).

        ***

        Clearly it’s too early in the season to decide whether Verstappen has been lucky or to what degree he is talented. It’s one thing to put together three or four good laps in qualifying and quite another to do it consistently through a race. At the same time, there are drivers that have gone their whole career without seeing the third row of a grid.

        Verstappen has a lot to learn. So far, though, he looks very promising. There’s no way you can put this down to “the cars are too easy to drive”. On the contrary, I think the new cars have some incredibly complicated controls that might just be a better fit for young drivers who grew up with computers and game consoles as second nature.

    3. One nil to JB!
      2-0 if you include Australia.

      1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        28th March 2015, 23:02

        Yup hope Jenson continues to beat Alonso!

    4. For what it’s worth, I would love to believe that this is the beginning of something. When Lewis went to Mercedes, lots of folks thought he was crazy. Over a few years, that team built up to where it is today. Seb has gone to Ferrari to see if he can build that team around him, even with Kimi there. And now we have Jenson and Fernando. So many great drivers in the same cars. It’s a shame that the cars aren’t more equal, and that’s a whole other discussion, which I’m happy to have any time, but it’s fun to see these guys fight. Honestly, I don’t really care that Jenson and Fernando are at the back. I know it’s super important that they can give information to the team. That’s part of Formula 1. But really, I just want to see these guys race. You could put them in karts and I would watch.

    5. Well in Q1 he’s roughly half a second closer to P1 than he was in Australia.
      That pace has landed McLaren the exact same qualifying position, filling row 9.

      I like JB, but if he keeps saying the same thing people will stop listening. Maybe if they can do better than 4s off per lap in the race tomorrow this comment will hold more weight.

    6. Good for Jenson. Maybe the McHondas will be lapped only twice during this race. It is sickening in this age of perpetual political correctness, everybody is expected to say just positive things. It is shameful that, for the first time ever McLaren failed to qualify to Q2, twice in a row.

      Fernando crashgate, Jenson’s rosy glasses, Ron Dennis constant lies…what a pathetic group of have beens.

      1. Party at your house, right? Sounds like fun

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