First points of the season for McLaren
- May 24, 2015
- 2 min read
It looked at times this weekend that points were once again going to be difficult for McLaren, but it turned out alright for them in the end with Jenson Button picking up their first points of the season in Monaco.
Thanks to a couple of penalties, Jenson Button was able to start in 10th place with a free choice on his set of tyres. Not running in the third part of qualifying meant that he was able to start on a brand new set of the super soft tyres.
At the start Jenson maintained his position, but a feisty Fernando Alonso improved to be just behind his team mate, although forcing Nico Hulkenberg off the circuit in the process which earned him a five second penalty he served at his pitstop.
“It’s been a positive day for us. We were hoping to score a point today, and we scored four. I certainly didn’t expect to finish eighth,” said Jenson.
“At the start I lost a position to Nico, but got it back by going around the outside of him at Turn Three on the first lap, which was good fun. Once I got past Pastor, my race was basically about turning quali lap after quali lap: it was flat-out.
“That was tough – in fact it was pretty physical out there – but I really enjoyed it.
“I’m really happy for the team – we’ve worked hard to get into this position, and they deserve this. We have work to do, but this is a hugely positive step for us.”
With overheating problems forcing Alonso’s car to retire on the outside of St Devote (not a good corner for Alonso this weekend). After the safety car came out following the accident by Verstappen meant that the McLaren finished the race in eighth.
“At the start, I don’t think I deserved the penalty,” said Fernando. “At that particular moment, I don’t know what else I could have done.
“Most significantly, it’s a pity we couldn’t finish the race today. The car started to upshift in a really strange way on the lap before I stopped; then, on the first corner, I had no braking. The car stayed in neutral and I couldn’t put it in gear.
“That’s frustrating because we could have had both cars in the point for the first time this season. We need to keep improving the car to ensure these sorts of things don’t happen again. Still, having these problems this year is good, because it means we won’t repeat them next year.”
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