China 2012 Friday quotes: McLaren

Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a great day – it stayed dry in the afternoon so we successfully got through our run programme. We're still working away to improve the set-up, but the new bits on the car seem to be working: the guys back at the factory have done a great job. We look competitive – and I've been particularly focusing on the longer runs for this weekend. We still need to make a few improvements but our car looks good. I'll be changing the gearbox on my car before P3. It's going to be a close qualifying session tomorrow – it'll be a good battle and hopefully we can start as high up the grid as possible because I think we'll still be in the race and among the leading group. I love the challenge of coming through and gaining positions."

Jenson Button: "It's been a little bit of a difficult day for me. I was trying to find a good set-up but the cold weather made it difficult to understand the car because the tyres weren't working perfectly. Tomorrow should be a bit warmer than today – we don't quite understand the tyre temperatures and can't get them quite in the right area. And if we make a set-up change and the tyre temp changes by five or 10 degrees, then that change goes out the window. That's something for us to sort out, but we've got a lot of useful information from the low- and high-fuel runs. It's been a tricky day but there's a lot of good information to go through – we'll find a better direction overnight."

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: "Today's low temperatures meant it was difficult to chase the optimum tyre performance – particularly on Jenson's side of the garage. However, there were plenty of positives to take away from today: our car looks to be quick, the upgrade package that we brought to this race also seems to be a positive step, and our long-run pace is also promising. This evening, we'll be looking closely at how to best match the set-up to the tyre temperatures, and working further to refine the balance of the car, but this is undoubtedly a good place from which to start."

Replies (0)

Login to reply

AZ Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Local time 

AZAzerbaijan Grand Prix

Local time 

Test calendar

See full test schedule

World Championship standings 2026

Show full world champion standings

Related news

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2026

Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Spain
-
Bahrain
-
Bahrain
6 - Mar 8
Australia
13 - Mar 15
China
27 - Mar 29
Japan
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
1 - May 3
United States of America
22 - May 24
Canada
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
12 - Jun 14
Spain
See full schedule

Formula 1 Calendar - 2026

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
10 - Apr 12
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
5 - Jun 7
Monaco Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
See full schedule

Driver profile

  • Team McLaren
  • Points 37
  • Podiums 0
  • Grand Prix 41
  • Country GB
  • Date of b. Jan 19 1980 (46)
  • Place of b. Frome, Somerset, GB
  • Weight 72 kg
  • Length 1.82 m
Show full profile
show sidebar