Jenson Button: “We can still have a good race…”

Jenson Button says he ended up stuck in 11^th in qualifying in Hungary simply because he couldn’t get the soft tyres to work.

That was despite him taking an extra set of the them at the start of Q2 so that he could make sure that the McLaren was dialled in on the options.

“We chose to run with option tyre in Q2 because we were worried that we would put it on the end of Q2 and find a very different balance with the tyre,” said Button. “I did a find a different balance with the tyre, I was struggling with entries quite a bit at the rear, and a lot of understeer apex and exit. The problem was the difference from entry to exit was so different it was very difficult to find a balance.

“So basically I just couldn’t find the grip on the option tyre. On the prime tyre the pace was good in Q1, but I couldn’t find the time in Q2 on the soft tyre. Obviously disappointing, Lewis did a great job in Q3. The frustrating thing for me was it seemed that in Q3 everyone apart from the first five didn’t really get a lap together, they weren’t quick.”

Despite his problems, Button is trying to see the glass as half full.

“It’s disappointing to be outside the top 10 by about two-hundredths. But looking on the positive side, which we have to now, I’m starting on the clean side, which makes a big difference around here. And I have a new set of tyres to put on the car. It’s not all bad, we can still have a good race from there tomorrow.”