McLaren’s Jenson Button is eyeing a Q3 place in qualifying after an impressive lap in second practice at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir put him third fastest, only behind the two Mercedes.
On the other side of the McLaren garage, Fernando Alonso was forced to pull out of this weekend’s race in Bahrain due to an injury sustained after his crash with Esteban Gutierrez at the Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren youngster and 2015 GP2 series champion Stoffel Vandoorne has replaced the Spaniard for this weekend.
Reflecting on Friday in Bahrain, Button was very happy with how the MP4-31 was performing but admits there is a lot of work to do.
“Today was good – FP1 and FP2 were both competitive, and it’s nice to have a car that feels good beneath me, one we can really work with and see good gains. There’s still a lot of work to do tomorrow on long runs, especially on the harder compounds, when I’m sure the other cars will be more competitive tomorrow. But, we were third quickest today, and that’s a positive. There are certain areas where we need to improve, and I think we still can improve. We have to do a good job as a team tomorrow and make sure we don’t make any mistakes.
The 2009 World Champion is eyeing a place in Q3 for the first time since 2014.
“We had no problems today reliability-wise, everything was good. It’s fun to have a car that’s enjoyable to drive. The balance is reasonable and the car is feeling nice around here, which is definitely better than Melbourne. I think when you’re third in FP2 and it’s not because of changeable conditions or anything, you’ve got to be thinking about getting into Q3 – it has to be the aim.
