Three-time Australian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button has lamented a poor strategy that saw him finish a disappointing 14th in the 2016 season opener, after competitive running on both Friday and Saturday.
The Briton qualified 13th behind teammate Fernando Alonso, on a weekend which was decidedly more promising for the Woking squad compared with their trials and tribulations endured last season.
On Sunday, both McLaren’s were involved in the fierce midfield scrap. Considering that just 12 months ago, Button and Alonso were unable to compete with the straight line speed of their rivals, McLaren and Honda have made marked progress over the winter.
Nevertheless, the promise was not converted into points in Melbourne. Alonso’s afternoon ended in dramatic fashion after a high-speed collision with Esteban Gutierrez. Meanwhile, Button’s afternoon was compromised by strategy.
Like Ferrari, McLaren opted for the supersoft tyre following the red flag period. As such, Button was unable to take full advantage of the pace and longevity provided by the medium compound, which emerged as the preferable race tyre.
“My car wasn’t too bad, but I think we made some imperfect strategic calls this afternoon,” Button stated. “Also, the red flag hurt us because we’d already made our first stop. Then, after the restart, we ran the supersoft – which lasted about 10 laps – and then fitted the back-up (medium tyre), which everyone else had been on since the restart. Around here, you can catch up but you can’t easily overtake, so we ended up at the back of the queue after making our stop.”
A challenging day for McLaren in general. However, having finished the 2015 Australian Grand Prix two laps down, this weekend has provided key evidence to support their claims that progress has been made. Now comes the difficult task of cementing this improvement and building upon it.
