The first priority for McLaren-Honda at the Brazilian Grand Prix was for both cars to see the chequered flag. This was a success as Jenson Button finished the race fifteenth and Fernando Alonso sixteenth.
With Williams Martini Racing driver Felipe Massa being disqualified from the Grand Prix, due to exceeding the revised parameters for tyres, Button was promoted to fourteenth and Alonso fifteenth.
“We never enjoy P15, but the race itself was reasonably pleasurable,” said Button. “I could push the car and fight people in the corners. We know where our weaknesses are, so let’s concentrate on the positives.
“There was an interesting feel to the car out there today, we had reliability and we ended up 12 seconds behind the last points-scoring position, which is probably closer than we’d expected to be. We’ll be back at the factory on Tuesday and hopefully we can continue to develop the car. There’s a lot of room for improvement but it feels like we’re going in the right direction, which is promising, and I’m enjoying inputting into that.
“We’re working massively hard. We’ve probably produced more new parts than any other team, and they seem to be working. We had new front wings here, and it’ll be interesting to go back to the MTC on Tuesday to study the data and see if they’ve helped us move forward, but it already feels like they have.
“Hopefully in the next race, Abu Dhabi, we’ll do a little better again.”
After fitting a brand-new engine in his car after stopping on track during qualifying, Alonso felt the car was not working 100% at the beginning of the race, and felt somewhat strange to drive.
“Finishing the race today was our first priority after having suffered retirements on recent Sunday afternoons,” said Alonso. “So it’s good news that both cars saw the chequered flag and we collected some good data, to see which is the best way to go to keep moving forward.
“Unfortunately, the car was not working 100% at the beginning of the race. It sometimes felt strange to drive, with different power in different gears, so I was having to try to avoid the odd gear from time to time. I think the reason for that was that after qualifying we fitted a brand-new engine and we didn’t have any laps in which to set it up.
“Anyway, we have just one more 2015 Grand Prix to go now. I can’t wait to start working 100 percent on 2016.”
