Jenson Button says McLaren’s strategy during the Chinese Grand Prix was the wrong choice, although he said it was worth trying it out.
The British driver had a good start and made up several places. He enjoyed several entertaining battles with quicker cars before losing ground.
McLaren tried a two-stop strategy but it didn’t work out and Button went on the super-soft tyre for the final stint. He felt this was the wrong decision but said it was worth giving it a go. He eventually finished behind team-mate Fernando Alonso in 13th.
"My start was good: I made up a lot of places and was able to take the battle to the other cars," he said. "Our pace on the option tyre during the first stint was also pretty good – it was fun racing the quicker cars.
"When the safety car came out, there was mayhem in the pit-lane because Nico [Hulkenberg] was trying to slow everyone down to help his team-mate.
"After that stop, we seemed to be sitting in a strong position, but we were running the medium compound, and we just seemed to stand still compared with the others.
"We tried to do a two-stopper – which didn’t work out – so then we decided to fit the option for the final stint. Given our position just outside the points, we thought we might as well give it a go.
"Perhaps fitting the option at the end was the wrong choice – I could have stayed out until the end on the medium, but I decided to have some fun by fitting softer rubber – but it just couldn’t make its performance last to the end. Still, as I say, it was worth having a crack at it."
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