McLaren-Honda overall had a good start to their 2016 Formula 1 season when they finished both free practice sessions on Friday in Melbourne inside the top ten.
Jenson Button completed a total of twenty-nine laps around the damp Albert Park circuit across the two sessions, with the Briton setting a fastest lap of 1m33.129s to go eighth quickest in FP1, while in FP2, the Briton went seventh quickest with a time of 1m40.008s. In both practice sessions Button finished just behind his Spanish team-mate Fernando Alonso.
After bad weather conditions in Melbourne, Button hopes the weather on Saturday becomes a lot calmer. He believes the team still made the best of Friday in the bad weather conditions.
“This wasn’t the easiest day on which to run race cars,” said Button. “Even if it had been dry, those 50km/h winds made things very tricky, and the early rain made them trickier still.
“In fact in conditions like we saw today, when it’s wet and windy, you can lose control of the car very easily, so I hope tomorrow will be a lot calmer to be honest. Having said that, we still managed to trial some engine and ride-height settings. We’d like to have tried even more, but there was little point in such bad weather conditions.
“All in all, though, I definitely think we made the best of today. For qualifying tomorrow, I think it’s important that the fans know what’s happening. The fans are a big part of this sport, and it’s important that they understand the reasons for the change.
“I reckon some teams and drivers will make mistakes in quali during the next few races, but I think we’re well prepared.”
