On his 300th Grand Prix weekend, Jenson Button is confident that after qualifying ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s Malaysia Grand Prix he can fight with the cars around him.
The results have certainly shown that the efforts of the McLaren-Honda partnership are starting show through in their performances. Both Button and teammate Fernando Alonso secured top 10 finishes in both Friday practice sessions.
With Alonso taking grid penalties due to testing out a new power unit on Friday in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix in a week’s time, it was left to Button to show what the MP4-31 had to offer.
Throughout Q1 there was a few radio calls from Button complaining about the traffic issues that he encountered, after qualifying Button said: “During Q1, I had issues with traffic; I had to out-brake Esteban Ocon into Turn Nine during my quick lap, and you shouldn’t have to be doing that during qualifying.
“I also had a little spin at Turn 14 when I lost all my downforce behind one of the Renaults. That first session was busy.”
Ahead of Sunday’s race, Button added: “Hopefully we can show well in the race – there’s no reason why we can’t fight the cars around us tomorrow.”
Despite having only completed one run in the final qualifying session, Button does not have any sets of soft tyres left to perhaps try an alternative strategy. This will mean a straight fight between himself, the Force Indias and Williams’ that surround him on the grid.
