- Russian GP - Race
Fourth the maximum for Button
Jenson Button thinks McLaren extracted all it could from its two cars after he finished fourth at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix.
After being competitive in Friday practice Button looked well placed on the grid in fourth, though Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas disappeared into the distance in the opening stages. Button was behind Bottas for much of the race and, though he was powerless to stop Nico Rosberg passing him during his recovery drive, the 2009 world champion thinks he has to be happy with the race in Sochi.
"Definitely," said Button when asked if fourth and fifth for team-mate Kevin Magnussen was the maximum for McLaren. "You're happy but you always want more in this sport unless you're top of the podium. From where I started you always think you can challenge in front but the three cars in front of us were much quicker. I think we did a very good job; we pushed in every lap until the end of the race. We weren't too far away from the cars in front but we're just missing a little bit.
"It was a good weekend overall for us and some good points for us as a team. You always want more in this sport and we'll keep on improving. We weren't as far as sometimes off the front cars. We got the maximum out of the car today and that's the most important thing."
Button thinks he was on for a strong result as soon as he got through the opening laps cleanly.
"I had a little scare on lap one in Turn 3 with Fernando [Alonso]. Cars are obviously very low then and trying to hold my position, my car was moving around a lot so we got very close. Fernando was pushing me pretty hard but then we were able to pull a gap and then he got stuck behind Kevin, I think, on the final stint so I was able to build a gap."
With Rosberg making a 52-lap stint work on the prime compound Button admits the tyres made for a unique race in the modern era.
"It was a strange race, strange how you can do so many laps on a set of tyres. That prime set for me seemed like it could have gone on forever. It's back to old-school racing, if you like, which is good in some ways but it does just mean the quickest car wins."
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