A productive day’s testing for McLaren at Korean International Circuit

Jenson Button (FP1, 1m40.215s (+0.585s), 22 laps, 5th - FP2, 1m39.774s (+1.101s) - 29 laps, 9th): “The circuit is always very tricky, particularly at the start of the weekend; I don’t think it’s used at any other time of the year so it’s always very slippery in first practice.

“However, I think our afternoon session was a little more representative of our overall pace. We got some reasonable mileage under our belts and, even though I didn’t get the best from the Supersoft tyre on my fastest lap, I think we’ve begun to understand the characteristics of each tyre pretty well.

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-28

Photo by: XPB Images

“In terms of performance, I think we might be a little bit closer to the Lotuses than we’ve been for the last couple of races – but let’s see what tomorrow brings.

“Also during FP2, my mechanics needed to effect a quick fix to a brake adjuster switch inside my cockpit – the lever was adjusting itself under braking, so we had to tape it still. It had a very minor impact on my running.”

Sergio Perez (FP1, 1m40.860s (+1.230s), 20 laps, 9th - FP2, 1m40.152s (+1.479s), 31 laps, 12th): “We completed everything that was on our list for today – including getting some useful laps on high fuel, which was very important.

“We still have quite a lot of work to do to optimise the car’s set-up when running the Prime on high fuel, and work to make the Option perform to its maximum on low fuel, so it’s going to be a tricky balancing act – but we’re looking forward to it.

“Overall, I think we’re in a similar position to where we were at the last race in Singapore: if we can get into the points, it’ll be a good result for us.

“The anticipated wet weather might help us out, too.”

Martin Whitmarsh - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “This was a productive day’s testing for the team. This morning’s session went reasonably well. Our cars were among the first out – which compromised tyre-life on the green track, but to a necessary extent, as we needed to get out early to collect the data we wanted.

“In the afternoon, some of the directions we chose to take turned out to be negative, but still produced some useful data for later analysis. We now have to go away and analyse that information and make further changes for tomorrow.

“If we can put all our disparate pieces of information together, hopefully we can make the car quicker tomorrow.”

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes