It was another disappointing day for the McLaren-Honda team, as both of their drivers failed to make it out of Q1.
Fernando Alonso suffered a loss of power before he could set a competitive lap time whereas Jenson Button could only settle for 17th, beating only the Manor-Marussia’s.
After their qualifying sessions were over, Jenson and Fernando decided to look at the funny side, with Alonso sunbathing beside his stricken McLaren, before he joined his teammate for a visit to the podium.
“I’m not sure if we’ll get in trouble for that, but it was a lot of fun. It was the most fun I’ve had this weekend,” said Button in an interview with Sky Sports.
Despite all the jokes, it’s clear to see the frustration building up at McLaren-Honda, with Fernando unable to mask his disappointments during their interviews.
“Unfortunately, apart from the jokes, there is a lot of frustration,” said Alonso. “Next year especially, we need to learn from all these problems and mistakes and not repeat them anymore.”
Manor are the only team behind McLaren in the Constructors Championship, but Jenson is positive that there will be big improvements next year.
“I’m feeling pretty good [about 2016] at this moment in time,” the Briton said. “All the support I’ve had this year has kept us positive, and this keeps me positive for next year. There’s so much that’s going to change this winter, there really is, so I’m excited for that, but I also know there’s a lot of hard work ahead.”
Jenson will start from 16th on the grid, following Daniel Ricciardo’s penalty, and Fernando Alonso will be starting from the back of the grid in 20th.
