Jenson Button says the Spanish Grand Prix was not an easy race despite finishing in ninth place, because of a complete lack of grip.
The British driver started 12th and enjoyed some good battles, coming home to score two points. His team-mate Fernando Alonso retired after losing power.
“It’s a shame that Fernando retired, because we were having a good battle out there,” Button said. “I had a great start – it must’ve been the best getaway out there.
“But it wasn’t a very easy race for me. There was no grip at all out there – and, whatever we did, we struggled. Equally, the leaders weren’t very quick at the end, which made it really difficult for me to manage the situation because Dany [Kvyat] was right behind Seb [Vettel] and Ricci Bobby [Daniel Ricciardo], and he was on fresh rubber.
“Fortunately, I was just quick enough to stay ahead of those cars, and he couldn’t jump me. We knew it was going to be difficult to score points here, so this result wasn’t too bad.”
Commenting on a disappointing home race, Alonso added: “My car felt okay this afternoon, but I didn’t manage to make a good start and lost everything – so my race was effectively over by the first corner.
“After that, I followed Jenson for 50 laps and had traffic all race long, so I wasn’t able to do too many laps in free air or show my true pace. At the end, I lost power somehow – we don’t know the exact cause.
“We weren’t able to capitalise on our reasonable level of competitiveness. With both Mercedes out, we had a good opportunity to score some points today, but we didn’t manage it, so we need to keep improving.”
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