Jenson Button was disappointed to drop out of the Bahrain Grand Prix as he felt very comfortable in the car. He felt that he potentially had the pace to make a points finish.
A power unit failure saw the Brit’s race come to a premature end as he lost drive at turn 2 before finally coming to a halt at turn 10.
“Yeah, it’s tough.” Button admitted when questioned by Channel 4 after his early retirement. “I was running in 9th when it stopped. We were cruising behind the two cars in front which was Grosjean and Verstappen who are now 5th and 6th or 6th and 7th.
“It was one of those days where people have made mistakes and we should have capitalised but we couldn’t.
“I think we take positives out of the weekend in terms of outright pace. To be fighting as far up as we were in the practice sessions over this weekend. We’ve done a good job.
“Qualifying didn’t go to plan,” Button lamented. “We didn’t get a lap in in Q2.
“The pace is there but as some point, we need to show it.”
After the race, McLaren-Honda Racing Director Eric Boullier said the Brit felt he could have finished as high as seventh as he was comfortable racing behind Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen who finished 5th and 6th respectively.
“Not sure it is very important but at least in the top seven.” Boullier said when questioned by Sky Sports F1. “You can’t draw any conclusions but the car was good. He was very happy with the car. He was saving fuel at the beginning of the race and he thinks he could have had good pace for the end of the race.”
If that prediction is true it is an encouraging sign for the McLaren Honda team and they will be hoping to exploit their potential pace out in China for the third round of the championship.
