Jenson Button earned McLaren-Honda two points from the Spanish Grand Prix after finishing ninth.
It was a good race from the Briton after starting in twelfth, but it was donned a ‘bittersweet end’ by McLaren as teammate Fernando Alonso failed to finish.
Button had a brilliant start off the line, getting ahead of his teammate by Turn 1 and managing to hold back the chasing pack. It was in the closing stages of the race that he managed to pass Gutierrez for a points finish and hold off Daniil Kvyat to keep ninth. Aside from having a good race Button still found it very difficult due to lack of grip.
“There was no grip at all out there – and, whatever we did, we struggled. But, equally, the leaders weren’t very quick at the end, which made it really difficult for me to manage the situation because Dany [Kvyat] was right behind Seb [Vettel] and Ricci Bobby [Daniel Ricciardo], and he was on fresh rubber.
“Fortunately, I was just quick enough to stay ahead of those cars, and he couldn’t jump me. We knew it was going to be difficult to score points here, so this result wasn’t too bad.”
Button was disappointed that teammate Alonso could not finish as they had been having a good fight for position on track. The Spaniard had been saving his tyres through the stints and then pushing on them on the end while Button was doing the opposite. This kept bringing the two close together on track.
Button will be hoping to continue his points-scoring streak at the Monaco Grand Prix.
