McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, thinks the police issue from Friday may have contributed to Lewis Hamilton’s poor performance in qualifying.
Hamilton could only manage P11 which saw him drop-out before the Q3 session, whilst his teammate managed to set the fourth quickest time.
“He was a bit distracted after what happened [yesterday],” Whitmarsh told the BBC.
“Sometimes you have a good day, sometimes a less good day.
“It certainly played on his mind last night but because he is Lewis Hamilton it gets a lot of attention.”
Hamilton though, played down the effect of yesterday’s run-in with the law, saying he struggled with the tyre temperatures: “I feel I got everything out of the car, I didn’t have any more grip from the tyres.”
“I don’t know if I got the right heat into the tyres – at least Jenson’s doing a good job.”
Button managed a 1:24.675, slotting him into fourth. He told the BBC he couldn’t get anything more out of the car.
“I couldn’t have been further up the grid with what I had, I pretty much got the best out of the package we’ve got at the moment.”
