Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Intense action for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

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SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-02
- Started: 12th
- Finished: 11th
- Fastest lap: 1m37.913s (+0.952s, 7th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 10 (2.76s), 20 (2.69s) and 39 (2.92s) [Opt-Pri-Pri-Pri]
- Points: 10 (11th)

“That was an incredible race – really enjoyable.

“I have to thank the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team first of all – we’ve been through some difficult times recently, but they kept on supporting me. All in all, it’s been a solid weekend – we got pretty much the maximum from the car, ran a great strategy, looked after the tyres, and scored some very useful points.

“I guess I was a little aggressive on track today; banging wheels with Jenson was perhaps a little too risky, a little too hard, but the team never came on the radio to tell us to stop racing. There were no team orders.

“There was a lot of adrenaline from both of us, and Jenson is always a very strong racer, but hopefully we’ll help each other a little more in the future.

“He was calm and friendly after the race, though, which was great; but that isn’t surprising because he’s a great guy as well as a great driver.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-03
- Started: 10th
- Finished: 10th
- Fastest lap: 1m37.743s (+0.782s, 5th)
- Pitstops: Four: laps 9 (4.43s), 21 (3.46s), 34 (3.04s) and 46 (2.81s) [Opt-Pri-Pri-Pri-Opt]
- Points: 13 (10th)

“Today wasn’t brilliant for me. Okay, the race was a lot of fun, but I didn’t get the result I wanted because I used up my tyres fending off Checo.

“There was a lot of action out there, and as I say I wasn’t really able to conserve my tyres as a result. That was partly because I had to work my way back through after my second pitstop, when I’d been fighting with Romain [Grosjean].

“But there was a lot of clean racing out there too – although as I say Checo was a bit tough, which was a little unusual. He did a good job overall though: he had good pace, and he looked after his tyres well. So, congratulations to him, because together we scored some very useful points for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team today.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“The 2013 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was a fantastic motor race, and I’m sure it was hugely entertaining for the tens of millions of viewers who watched it at home as well as for those lucky enough to be here at Sakhir to see it for real.

“Checo drove his best race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes so far, passing both Fernando [Alonso] and Mark [Webber] in the closing stages, to finish a fighting sixth at the flag.

“It was a very good drive, especially when you consider that he was able to maintain such strong race pace despite having sustained damage to his rear wing and one of his front-wing endplates.

“Jenson would have finished right up there, too, had he not had to make an extra tyre stop with just 10 laps to go. Nonetheless, he, too, finished in a solid points-scoring position.

“The two of them spent much of the afternoon in close proximity to each other – sometimes in nail-bitingly close proximity actually – but that’s motor racing. Both Jenson and Checo are fast, forceful and hungry for success – and that’s exactly how it should be. It’s called racing, and we at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes always allow our drivers to race. It’s what this sport is all about. Having said that, it’s probably fair to say that Checo was a little too combative with Jenson this afternoon, and I think he knows that.

“From here we travel back to Woking [Surrey, UK], where we’ll work hard on our upgrade package for Spain, where in three weeks’ time we hope to continue the process of demonstrating the fruits of our steady development of MP4-28 into the competitive machine we need it to be.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Jenson Button P10, Sergio Perez P12

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-03
- FP3: 17 laps, 1m34.117s (+0.870s), 12th
- Q1 (on Options): 1m34.071s, 11th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m33.702s, 10th
- Q3 (on Primes): No time set, 10th overall

“It’s been a very difficult weekend so far, but 10th is a strong result for us today.

“The team is used to fighting at the front, so it’s the little things – like getting through into Q3 – that can make a positive difference. Of course, it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow, though. I’ll race as quickly as I can, but I don’t want people to expect too much from us.

“However, there are positives to be drawn from today: we out-qualified a Lotus, which was a surprise, and I’ll be driving the first car starting on new tyres tomorrow. As in China, that brings a slight strategic advantage, so I’m hoping we can have another decent outing.

“I think we’ve both got a chance of scoring points – it would be great for both Checo and me to finish in the top 10 tomorrow.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-02
- FP3: 18 laps, 1m34.282s (+1.035s), 13th
- Q1 (on Options): 1m34.310s, 9th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m33.914s, 12th overall
- Q3: -

“Qualifying was very difficult, and it was disappointing to miss out on getting into Q3 by just a few tenths. We didn’t really have the pace to get any further up the grid, though; I think Jenson showed the maximum that was possible for us in Q2 today.

“Still, we’re in a better position to fight for points tomorrow. I’ve set my car up to look after its rear tyres, so I think our race pace should be a bit more consistent.

“It’s still going to be hard to get into the points tomorrow, but I hope we can have an okay race and make it into the top 10. But it’s going to be a long, hard race.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Both Jenson and Checo did a very disciplined job out there today. Going into this race weekend, we knew it was going to be difficult for us – this is a rear-limited circuit, a characteristic that accentuates the weaknesses we have with our car.

“Still, those circumstances required patience and hard work, and I think the drivers and the engineers got the best from a package that’s more limited on a circuit like this.

“Jenson’s lap in Q2 was a phenomenal effort and allowed him to get through to Q3. While that’s not what anybody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is used to accepting, we acknowledge that these are currently difficult times, and that lap was a welcome fillip.

“Equally, Checo drove extremely well in Q2, and was just a couple of tenths shy of Jenson’s top-10 effort.

“As in China last weekend, our efforts are primarily focused towards aiming for a decent result in the race tomorrow. Both our drivers are great racers, and I’m sure they’ll go out there and do a fantastic job for us.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2013: Friday's Free Practice Report - Slight improvement for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-03
- FP1: 1m35.069s (+0.582s), 22 laps, 6th
- FP2: 1m35.356s (+1.202s), 32 laps, 11th

“Today’s sessions were very productive for us. We completed some useful investigative work this morning before focusing on longer runs this afternoon.

“It’s very difficult to know exactly what to do with set-up. This is a big traction circuit, with lots of low-speed exits and a few high-speed corners too, and that puts a lot of load into the rear tyres.

“The tyres are behaving a bit strangely here – driving conservatively doesn’t seem to help their wear-life, so there’s only so much you can do without damaging your outright pace.

“But we’ve tried a few things, and we’ll get there. I’ve already got a good feeling that we’ve found a set-up and a direction for tomorrow that will be more competitive. There’s a lot we can take away from today that will help us for tomorrow.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-02
- FP1: 1m35.640s (+1.153s), 23 laps, 11th
- FP2: 1m35.589s (+1.435s), 37 laps, 13th

“We managed to complete our full run-plan in both the morning and afternoon, which was a positive, but it’s going to be a difficult weekend for us.

“Although we’ll probably be fighting to get into Q3, there’s still plenty of potential for having a good race.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Neither Jenson nor Checo had any real problems during today’s sessions, but, like many teams, we struggled to make the Option tyre last across a stint – that’s likely to be a recurring problem throughout the rest of the weekend, in fact.

“Nevertheless, there are some positives to take from today: we did a lot of running, gathered some useful data, and our upgrades proved helpful.

“As always, we’ll now go away and analyse our data and we’ll come back well equipped to make a big effort on both Saturday and Sunday.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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