F1: McLaren Quicker In The Dry, Says Button

Formula 1

F1: McLaren Quicker In The Dry, Says Button

Jenson Button will start the Malaysian GP from seventh...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 23, 2013 Sepang (MAS)

McLaren's 2013 car remains a work in progress. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Jenson Button says that McLaren has made progress after getting comfortably into the top 10 in Malaysia.

Button, who was as high as sixth in Q1, finished the damp Q3 session in eighth but will move up to seventh with a penalty on Kimi Raikkonen.

“Forgetting the wet conditions, I think we’ve improved from Australia,” Button insisted. “I said yesterday that we’re competitive in these conditions, but today that wasn’t the case! I couldn’t find the balance in the wet.

“But, anyway, if you look through qualifying, in Q1 and Q2 on dry tires, we were more competitive. Still nowhere near the top, but we were more competitive, and we should be very happy with what we’ve achieved so far this weekend. It’s only five days after a pretty tough race for us, so we’re making progress. And that’s very positive.”

Button has been saying he wanted a wet race, but he admitted he’s changed his mind.

“After this, no I’m not,” the McLaren driver said. “I couldn’t find a balance out there, and I struggled with lack of grip in high speed at the rear, lots of rear movement. Most of the time our car has been very good in the wet, but today it isn’t. I’d take that any day of the week for a better car in the dry.

“We’ve improved the car in the dry, which is good. It’s getting there. We’ve got a bit of work to do, and we lucked in with the rain in Q2 at the end, but tomorrow we’re looking forward to the race. I wasn’t really looking forward to the race in Melbourne.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.