- Australian GP - Qualifying
Button: Back of the grid is no surprise for McLaren
Jenson Button says McLaren was braced for a spot on the back of the grid in Australia and does not think the race will be much easier.
McLaren is still adjusting to life with Honda power after a tough winter and finished qualifying over five seconds down on the pole time set by Lewis Hamilton. Patience has been the key word at the team since the start of the year and Button thinks McLaren's tricky pre-season made a tough first race inevitable.
When Button was asked if he expected to be so far back in qualifying, he replied: "Yes. You've got to look at winter testing - we ran low fuel and super-soft tyres in winter and weren't quick so there we knew it would be difficult and it's no real shock we're at the back. Probably when you drive the car you're surprised you're that far back because the feeling of the car is reasonable.
"It's going to be a really difficult race for us; we haven't done a race distance yet. We want to do the best we can and know we're not going to be fighting for points. I think for us to do everything we can to get the best out of the package ... and also there's so much learning to be done. I've done one high-fuel run before so fuel-saving is going to be very important for us in learning what we have and how we can make big steps forward."
Button says there are plenty of positives as McLaren continues to learn about and make strides with its Honda package.
"I think positives are that looking at winter testing it was difficult getting out when we wanted to in the day, having issues and cutting running short. You put the whole team into a race weekend and suddenly it becomes a lot more difficult because you really have to stick to the schedule. We've got some running done but it was never going to be super competitive here, it wasn't even going to be competitive, but still there's a good feeling about the car.
"For me it's a very good base, I think this is a very important car for us, for McLaren-Honda, for the future. I like where we are in terms of the philosophy of downforce and how the car reacts to my inputs. It feels reasonable and obviously we need more power, more downforce, but the basics feel good ... It's not as simple as just the petrol engine any more. The complexity of the power unit is far beyond anything I can understand. So far we've done a good job of understanding job of understanding it and getting something out of it but tomorrow it won't be easier."
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