Jenson Button has described the McLaren MP4-30 “unlike any McLaren he’s ever driven”, not because of its poor performance, but because of its potential.
The team have struggled for meaningful running following a spate of reliability troubles, but that doesn’t concern the 2009 champion who reckons the car can become a winner once they’ve ironed out its problems.
“I feel that this is a good start but we don’t have enough downforce to fight with Mercedes or even a couple of the other teams,” he explained. “But the basic philosophy and idea of the aerodynamics and how it works is definitely right. I haven’t driven a McLaren like this before, not in the way that it works.
“I’m not saying it’s the quickest McLaren I have ever driven, because it’s not, but in the way that it works the basic car is very good and it means we can build on it. The airflow will be very clean, so basically we can just add downforce.
“Beforehand [omn previous cars] you would add downforce and it would really change the characteristics of the car, so it’s a more consistent car in terms of balance. But as I said, it still needs a lot of work to be competitive.”
On the subject of targets for the first race this weekend, he refused to make outlandish claims of finishing in the top ten, but is hopeful they can get the car to the finish – though he even admitted that might be a struggle.
“I have no aim in terms of position, but I believe we can finish the race,” he added. “You are going to have doubts and it would be stupid not to have doubts when you look at winter testing because we haven’t completed a simulated race distance yet. It would be incorrect for me to sit here and say we are going to finish, but who knows?
“The aim is to finish and I have confidence that we can get enough mileage under our belts this weekend to sort out niggly problems, but I think the most important thing is to just get out there and see what we have.”
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