Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Sergio Perez P9 as Jenson Button retires

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SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A/02
- Started: 10th
- Finished: 9th
- Fastest Lap: 1m39.199s (1st)
- Pitstops: Four: laps 7, 22, 33 and 54 [Int-Opt-Opt-Pri-Pri]
- Points: 2 (10th)

“This afternoon my engineers sorted out a very good race strategy that enabled me to pass the cars immediately in front of me early on – so thank you and well done for that, guys.


“Unfortunately, towards the end of the race, my tyres began to degrade a bit too much, especially my front left, and we therefore felt it would be too risky to try to drive to the finish on that set.

“Consequently, we had no real option other than to make an extra pitstop, which caused me to lose position.

“I still ended up ninth, which is two places better than I finished in Melbourne last weekend, so I think it’s fair to say that we can see that progress is being made.

“In Shanghai in two weeks’ time let’s hope that that upward trend continues.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A/03
- Started: 8h
- Finished: DNF
- Fastest Lap: 1m40.556 (+1.357s, 5th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 7, 21 and 35 [Int-Opt-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 0 (DNF)

“We drove a good race today. Strategy-wise, we did everything right. We pitted on the correct laps and looked after the tyres exactly as we should have done.

“We’d have finished fifth but for the problem in the pitstop – maybe we’d even have been in the battle for third and fourth. It’s very disappointing that we weren’t able to demonstrate that, of course.

“Even at the end we had a chance of scoring a point, but unfortunately I was struggling with my front left [tyre] by that stage. It kept locking up, and it was producing such a bad vibration that I think the guys were worried that it might damage the front left suspension if I carried on.

“However, as I say, apart from the pitstop problem, I think we did a pretty good job. We’ve made improvements over the past week, and the result of those improvements was that we were more competitive here in Malaysia than we were in Australia last weekend, so there are definitely positives that we can take away with us.

“Hopefully, in China in two weeks’ time, we can continue that steady improvement and score a few more points.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“After having finished only ninth and 11th last weekend in Melbourne, today in Sepang we saw clear evidence that all the hard work we’ve been doing over the past week has resulted in some significant gains in terms of car development.

“Obviously, however, we’re very disappointed that Jenson lost a hard-earned and well-deserved fifth place, perhaps even third or fourth, as a consequence of a pitstop problem caused by a wheel-gun issue. Jenson did absolutely nothing wrong and reacted correctly to the green light, by the way.

“Checo, too, put in a solid and plucky performance all weekend, earning his first points for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this afternoon, and recorded fastest lap at the very end of the race.

“Clearly, therefore, although as I say we’re very disappointed for Jenson, the truth is that he could and should have finished at least fifth – and, although by our own high standards that’s not remotely good enough, it plainly shows that we’re going in the right direction from a car-development point of view.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Jenson Button P8, Sergio Perez P10

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-05
- FP3: 16 laps, 1m36.822s (+0.387s), 7th
- Q1 (on Primes): 1m37.487s, 6th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m37.117s, 8th
- Q3 (on Intermediates): 1m53.175, 8th overall

“I don’t think we can really expect to qualify any better than P8 right now – but, having said that, to be just two-tenths off the guy who won last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix [Kimi Raikkonen] in Q3 can’t be too bad.


“Q3 was wet today, of course, but during Q1 and the first half of Q2 it appeared that perhaps we’re now a little more competitive in the dry than we were this time last weekend. We’re still not quick, but the guys are doing a fantastic job to get everything they can out of our car.

“As for tomorrow’s race, well, when you’ve got a quick car, you never want it to rain. When you’ve got a less quick car, you do want it to rain. Today, though, we didn’t have great pace on the Intermediates [tyres] in Q3, when it was raining, so all I’ll say is that as always we’ll battle hard and see what the race brings.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-06
- FP3: 12 laps, 1m37.538s(+1.103s), 12th
- Q1 (on Primes): 1m37.702s, 10th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m37.342s, 10th
- Q3 (on Intermediates): 1m54.136s, 10th overall

“Considering how our car was behaving at Albert Park just a week ago, I guess you could say that was an encouraging qualifying session.

“Jenson and I both got into Q3, which was a relief, but obviously we know we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of car development. Having said that, I can see how hard the team is working to improve our car, and it’s a really good feeling to be a part of that.

“It often rains in the late afternoon here in Sepang, so I guess tomorrow’s race may well be affected by wet conditions, given that it’s scheduled to start at 4.00pm.

“But I really enjoy racing on this circuit, and, whatever the weather, I’ll give my best tomorrow for the best team in Formula 1.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Both Jenson and Checo drove commendably solidly in qualifying here today, in tricky conditions in which it would have been all too easy for them to have made costly mistakes.

“In terms of car performance, while we’d never be even remotely satisfied with P8 and P10, it’s fair to say that we’ve made a small amount of progress since last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, so I want to say thank you to all the guys, both on the road and back home in Woking [Surrey, UK], for their sterling efforts in that respect.

“Just as important, though, we’ve continued to gather useful data, which we’ll now number-crunch intensively with a view to continuing our evolution of MP4-28.

“There’s still a long way to go, because as I say we’re not yet even close to where we want and need to be in terms of car performance, but it’s probably fair to state that, although the gains we’ve made have been small so far, the development trend appears to be in the right direction.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Friday's Free Practice Report - Modest performance for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-05
- FP1: 1m38.173s (+1.238s), 16 laps, 11th
- FP2: 1m37.865s (+1.296s), 29 laps, 12th

"Today we got through a decent amount of satisfactory work, and we duly gathered some more useful info about MP4-28.

“On a dry track it feels better than it did in Melbourne, but even then its pace still isn’t there compared with that of the front-running cars.

“We’ve identified some further improvements that we can make before tomorrow, though, which is encouraging, and it’s been a good day in terms of learning.

“Back at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking [Surrey, UK] the guys are working as hard as they possibly can to find extra performance – and here in Sepang, too, every single member of our race team is doing a truly awesome job.

“It’s a lot easier to work on a car that’s winning races than it is to work on a car that’s not fully competitive, so fair play to everyone for getting their heads down and battling through.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-06
- FP1: 1m38.830s (+1.895s), 17 laps, 13th
- FP2: 1m37.838s (+1.269s), 33 laps, 11th

“Today was a very busy day, during which both Jenson and I tried a number of options in an effort to decide which spec to go with tomorrow and Sunday.

“Our car has improved since Melbourne – which is quite cheering when you consider that we raced there only four days ago – and it felt better in both dry and wet conditions today.

“Having said that, although as I say it felt better on a dry track today than it did in Melbourne, it would still probably qualify and race a bit better on a wet track than on a dry track, relative to our opposition, so we won’t be upset if it rains quite a bit over the next couple of days.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Today we ran through our planned FP1/FP2 programme, successfully applying the upgrades we’d developed for this weekend, and continuing our investigative work with a view to improving our understanding of MP4-28.

“FP1 was dry, but there was quite a bit of rain towards the end of FP2, in which conditions we were reasonably competitive.

“Overall, then, it’s been a satisfactory day, and we’ve acquired quite a bit more data which we’ll now number-crunch in an effort to optimise our car’s spec for the rest of the race weekend.

“Everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is working incredibly hard, in very challenging circumstances, and I’m both grateful for and impressed by my colleagues’ indefatigable esprit de corps.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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