Button: Long stints difficult in the heat

McLaren performed well during the first day of testing for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim where it was very hot. The two Woking single-seaters finished in the top ten with Kevin Magnussen in fifth place, six tenths of the benchmark established by Lewis Hamilton, while Jenson Button took seventh position less than nine tenths behind.

“It was tough with these temperatures, especially with the super soft tires. We had trouble getting them to work properly without them overheating”, explained the 2009 world champion. “It was 58°C on the track, it’s starting to get hot. We had a bit of trouble doing our long stints and several cars were faster than us, which is a change from Silverstone. We tested a lot of interesting things and I'm waiting for (the new rear wing tested yesterday by Kevin Magnussen) to be installed on my car. »

Jenson Button is aware that victory will be difficult to achieve this year, McLaren still being too far behind and Mercedes too far ahead in development compared to the rest of the board. The arrival of Honda next year seems to boost the Briton's hopes. “ We all work very hard to progress. Beating Mercedes is virtually impossible, but we will end the season with a car rather competitive. The regulations will not change in 2015, but this team will benefit from a new engine manufacturer. So it's very difficult to say where we will be next season... I'm quite confident that we'll still be at McLaren next year. »