Jenson Button just missed out on making it through to Q3 alongside McLaren F1 team-mate Fernando Alonso in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, after a small lock up on his final run in Q2, saw him lose out by just one tenth of a second.
Despite not getting both cars through to Q2, signs are positive for the Woking based squad who have brought a new turbocharger to Montreal. Ordinarily this would not be a great track for McLaren, but the updates appear to be working well and have boosted the squad’s performance.
“Sitting on the cusp of the top 10 is essentially where we are right now – and it’s where we’ve been for the past few races. Still, this is a circuit on which we hadn’t anticipated being as competitive as we were in Monaco, so there are definitely positives to take from today.
“On my final Q2 lap, I didn’t get a tow down the back straight, and Fernando did – he got a tow from me! – so, up until the last sector, it was looking good for Q3, but then I didn’t get the tow and lost out.
Button is looking forward to tomorrow’s race, and is confident they will be able to make the tyres work, whatever the weather, with scoring points a definite possibility.
“If it’s dry tomorrow, I’ll be starting on new tyres and will be aiming to make the best of it and score some points. If it’s wet, we’ll just have to see what happens; the weather can really mix things up, and we’ve shown our strengths in making the tyres work and choosing the right strategy.”
