McLaren managed to shock again in Austin with a remarkable double-points finish at the US Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso successfully completed an aggressive drive to 5th and Jenson Button was the big mover with a 9th place finish from 19th on the grid.
With mixed fortunes this season, the high altitude of Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez offers extra challenges to the team, who are looking to finish off Toro Rosso’s Constructors challenge for 6th and score some valuable championship points.
Jenson Button and his race engineer Tom Stallard spoke exclusively to Mobil 1 about the approach McLaren are taking to this tricky Grand Prix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQBdPLabMoA&feature=youtu.be
McLaren-Honda have made massive progress this season and have looked much stronger. In the last six races alone, they’ve collected more points than they managed for the entire 2015 season. Last year in Mexico, Alonso retired and Button finished 14th. This year’s trip to Mexico City will surely yield much better results for both drivers.
Ahead of this weekend, Button said,
“I really enjoyed driving on this circuit last year. It wasn’t an easy track for us, but it’s a really rewarding layout for a driver. Although the famous banked Peraltada wasn’t included in the re-profiled design, the mixture of the very high-speed straights and the infield section at the end of the lap does give you a bit of everything and it really puts a smile on your face. We were definitely strongest in the final sector around the stadium so we’ll need to put those strengths to good use if we’re to give ourselves a fighting chance next weekend.
We’re very lucky that we have huge support from fans at all the circuits we go to around the world, but I can honestly say that the reception we got from the Mexican crowd last year was a feeling like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Every time you drove around the stadium section you could actually feel the roar from the fans from inside the car, it was unbelievable. I hope we put on a great show again this year and recreate that incredible atmosphere.”
– Jenson Button
Next stop, #MexicoGP. Perhaps two more mega drives from Fernando and Jenson might be worthy of #F1DriverOfTheDay this weekend. 😉 pic.twitter.com/Rfz20sNGty
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) October 24, 2016
The McLaren drivers are rightly optimistic about the package as McLaren aim to finish the season with four more points-scoring race weekends.
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