Jenson Button secured only his second points finish of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix after taking ninth position, but rued the decision not to pit for fresh tyres behind the safety car that left him vulnerable to attack in the closing stages.
The British driver was happy to see both McLaren-Honda’s finish inside the points for the first time in 2015, and insisted this was proof of the hard work done by the team this season, but the decision to not change his tyres saw him miss out on an even better result.
Button also praised team-mate Fernando Alonso for managing to finish the race up in fifth position, the best result for the team so far this year.
“Fernando did a great job today,” insisted Button. “Fitting the Option tyre for the final stint was the right decision for him; I didn’t stop for tyres under the Safety Car whereas pretty much everyone around me did.
“That decision made it very difficult for me, because my used Primes were pretty old by the end of the race, and there were plenty of faster cars around me running fresher Options.
“Still, it was a fun race, and it’s great to get points ahead of the summer break. The accidents and penalties certainly helped us, but we still did a good job out there today.
“This is a step forward for us, but we’ll need to take another step if we’re to repeat this sort of result. Equally, the next two races – at Spa and Monza – will probably be difficult for us, but it’s good to see we’re making progress.”
