McLaren fans at Hockenheim had hoped to see British Champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton closer to the front of the field on Sunday, with some predicting that the Woking squad had jettisoned qualifying pace in favour of race setup, although the duo could manage no more than fourth and fifth in the German Grand Prix.
Having shared the third row of the grid with Button, Hamilton shot past his slowed team-mate in the opening corners before then moving ahead of Mark Webber’s Red Bull for fourth. Behind, Jenson – who ran nine laps longer than the Australian – then rejoined the pits ahead and remained fifth for the remainder of the afternoon.
“It was a very tough race today – the car didn’t feel fantastic and the Ferraris and Red Bulls were very fast,” Hamilton began. “We hoped the gap would be closer in the race than it was in qualifying, and it was – but, even so, we’ve got to make up some pace on our main rivals.
“We need to go back and figure out where we can improve and pick it up again very quickly. Today, we did everything we could do – now we just have to work harder than ever to get ahead of the cars in front.”
“My start was pretty good, I got away fantastically well off the line,” said Button. “But we got to Turn 1 and Sebastian (Vettel), who was fighting the Ferraris, braked pretty early and I nearly went into the back of him - I had to take avoiding action and go wide.
"Lewis and I showed today that we got the maximum out of the car – it’s just that the car isn’t quite quick enough at the moment.”
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