F1 Melbourne - SAT - Qualifying - Jenson 4th, Lewis 11th

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Melbourne, Australia, Mar 27, 2010

JENSON BUTTON (4th, Q3 - 1m 24.675s)
�After our strong performance yesterday, this morning the car didn�t work as well as we�d expected. We lacked grip, and it looks as though the cars ahead of us here have more downforce. Nevertheless, qualifying this afternoon was good. I felt pleased with the car on every lap except the final one in Q3. I don�t know whether it was the wind picking up, but I didn�t feel the car was working quite as well as it had in the first two sessions.�


�I didn�t have the balance I�d had previously - there was a lot more understeer in the car - but it only cost me a tenth or two. So, the best lap we probably could have done was a 1m24.4s - which is still half a second off the pacesetters. We�re not there yet, but this is an improvement because we�re a lot closer to the front than we were in Bahrain. I�m happy with the performance of the team this weekend. We pretty much got the best out of the package we have at the moment.�

LEWIS HAMILTON (11th, Q2 - 1m 25.184s)
�Today was a surprise - I wasn�t expecting to be out in Q2. I felt I got as much as I could out of the car, but I just couldn�t get the grip from the tyres. On my first run in Q2, I was held up by traffic, so I wasn�t able to do a quick lap. I pitted early, got a clear lap, but still struggled to find time in the final sector - even with new tyres. I don�t know what the reason for that was. So I didn�t have a great day, but it�s encouraging to see Jenson doing such a good job. Hopefully, we�ll both have a good race tomorrow.�

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
�Jenson performed strongly in qualifying this afternoon, and a second-row grid position is the result. With good race pace, he ought to be able to score reasonably heavily tomorrow. Lewis put in a decent lap in Q1, but never felt comfortable with his car in Q2 and consequently failed narrowly to squeeze into Q3. That was a bit of a surprise to all of us, Lewis included, but we know what a competitive individual he is and there�s therefore no reason why he, too, shouldn�t have a good race tomorrow.�










* Official photos and info courtesy of VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES *

Copyright � 2010, fastfivecars. All rights reserved.