Jenson Button was left feeling encouraged by the overall handling of McLaren's MP4-28 chassis throughout practice at Sepang on Friday, with the Briton explaining that his car 'feels better than it did' at the opening round of the season in Melbourne.
Having finished both sessions outside the top ten, Button admitted that although he expects the front-running teams to remain out of reach in Sunday afternoon's race, his McLaren team finds itself in a slightly better situation than last weekend.
"Today we got through a decent amount of satisfactory work, and we duly gathered some more useful info about MP4-28," said Button. "On a dry track it feels better than it did in Melbourne, but even then its pace still isn't there compared with the front-running cars.
"We've identified some further improvements that we can make before tomorrow, though, which is encouraging, and it's been a good day in terms of learning."
Button, who confirmed his new status as a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) this afternoon, was edged out by team-mate Sergio Pérez in the second practice session, finishing 27 thousandths of a second behind the Mexican.
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Jenson Button
Teams
McLaren
Other
DTM Tickets (best price guarantee!) at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:36.569 | 28 |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:36.588 | 27 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:36.661 | 33 |
| 4. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:36.985 | 23 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:37.026 | 29 |
| 6. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:37.206 | 26 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:37.448 | 32 |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | 01:37.571 | 30 |
| 9. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:37.574 | 32 |
| 10. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:37.788 | 10 |
| Full results | ||||
| Jenson Button | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Jenson Button photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
