Jenson Button is hoping his own McLaren team-mate, Fernando Alonso, “annihilates” him this weekend as the Spaniard will be running an upgraded Honda power unit.
Alonso won’t incur a grid penalty this weekend as he tested the upgrade in Sochi during Friday practice and therefore served the necessary penalty that weekend.
The Briton will continue with the same engine he used for the Russian Grand Prix and is therefore hoping Alonso shows better pace as evidence of progress at Honda.
“Fernando had the same spec as me in Sochi, but on Friday he put in the phase 4 and then took it back out, so it’s being used here and he has the upgraded engine here,” explained Button.
“Normally when you are team-mates you want exactly the same, but I’m hoping it is a good upgrade, he’s really quick and he annihilates me all weekend.
“It’s unusual to say that; when you are fighting for a world championship at the front everything has to be the same and I’ve always pushed for that, but in our situation it doesn’t matter. It’s about getting it on the car, proving it out reliability wise and I’ll have the same engine in the next race.”
