Jenson Button admits he’s confused by the lack of pace shown by McLaren in Spain, particularly on his side of the garage.
The 2009 world champion could only manage 11th, whilst team-mate Lewis Hamilton secured pole – which was later taken away from him, putting Button tenth.
Despite Hamilton’s pace on Saturday, Button believes both cars struggled all weekend.
“It was a tough weekend, especially on Sunday,” he told the Daily Mail. “The most important thing is to understand why I didn’t have any pace over the weekend on low and high fuel. Even if qualifying doesn’t go well, normally we can get some good points in the race, but I couldn’t look after my tyres and I didn’t have any pace. It’s something that’s a concern.
“Yes, Lewis did a fantastic job in qualifying, and the team did well to produce a car like that. In the race you can say Lewis again did a good job by finishing eighth, which he should be happy with, but still the pace isn’t there.
“It was a worse weekend for me, but if you look at Lewis’ pace in the race, I still don’t think it’s where you would expect us to be.”
The 32-year-old couldn’t fathom why cars which have been behind McLaren in the opening races, were suddenly much quicker in the race.
“My fastest lap of the race was 2.6secs slower than the quickest overall, which is just strange, and I don’t understand why that is. And it wasn’t one end of the car I struggled with, it was both. I’ve never been in a position like that. It was very extreme.
“It’s not just us. The Red Bulls did a better job at the weekend than us in terms of points, but still they weren’t quick when you compare them to Williams, Sauber, Lotus and Ferrari. Five different teams winning five different races, we really don’t know what’s going on, and I think that’s the same up and down the pit lane.”
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