“Real progress is being made”

Sepang International Circuit, Saturday March 28

McLaren-Honda will start from 17^th (Jenson Button) and 18^th (Fernando Alonso) on the grid for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix. 

Both drivers did two runs apiece in the opening Q1 session. Jenson continued to shave tenths off his lap-times throughout the session, eventually finishing with a 1m41.636s best. By contrast, Fernando proved immediately quick, setting his fastest time of the session on his first flying lap, but failing to improve after fitting fresh tyres and having another go.

Despite qualifying in the same positions as in Australia, our pace relative to the front-runners has improved: in Melbourne, our cars were 2.790s off the fastest Q1 time (103.2%); here, they were 2.262s away (102.3%), on a significantly longer lap.

Tomorrow’s race will provide another opportunity to make progress.

JENSON BUTTON, MP4-30-01

“It was very difficult to get temperature into the tyres during the qualifying session – I really struggled in the first sector on every run I did, but was able to make the car work in the second and third sectors.  

“Before qualifying, I think we’d have hoped to be a bit closer to the cars in front of us, but this weekend has seen us take a massive step forward in performance.

“Also, I think our race pace – and our consistency over a long run – look like giving us a little extra. I’d like to think we could get closer to some of the cars in front tomorrow; that’ll be something to look forward to.

“There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend: we’ve made a big step forwards in terms of pace. There’s more to come from the engine and the aero package, but we know what to do.”

FERNANDO ALONSO, MP4-30-03

“Our form today wasn’t unexpected, but I think our performance so far this weekend has maybe been better than I’d have anticipated before arriving here in Malaysia. 

“In fact, I’d say the progress we’ve made since Australia has been fantastic – we’re much closer to the cars in front now – but we’re still under-performing and we still need to improve. However, the steps we’re taking with the car show a lot of progress, so I’m optimistic that I won’t be qualifying in Q1 for that much longer.

“If it rains tomorrow, it’ll be another learning process for the team. For me, too, the start procedure, the formation lap, the pit-stops – they’ll all be firsts for me as I wasn’t able to practise any of them in Australia. That makes me feel confident that there’s a lot more to come in the next few weeks.

“This isn’t an ideal position from which to start the race, but I’m fully aware that McLaren-Honda is a long-term project: we want to beat Mercedes, and to do that you need time, and to be prepared to take your chances as they come.”

ERIC BOULLIER – Racing director, McLaren-Honda

“Obviously, qualifying 17^th and 18^th isn’t what we want to be doing – very far from it – but I don’t wish to dwell on the self-evident negatives when in actual fact there are quite a few positives for me to comment on.

“First of all, it’s good to see Fernando back in the cockpit, and even better to note that he approached and conducted his first McLaren-Honda qualifying session with such infectious enthusiasm.

“Jenson and he recorded almost identical lap-times – a testimony to the fact that they both managed to get the absolute maximum from what MP4-30 currently has to offer.

“Although we’re no farther up the grid here than we were in Melbourne, it’s clear that MP4-30 has a significant amount more to offer on the swooping curves of Sepang than it did on the point-and-squirt switchback that is Albert Park. And that performance delta is a result of the fact that it’s already a better car, not a result of the fact that we’re racing on a very different kind of circuit this weekend.

“We’re not satisfied; of course we aren’t; we know we still have a mountain to climb. But it’s clear that real progress is being made, and, bearing in mind where we are on our car-development curve at the moment, that’s what matters.

“That progress will continue, mark my words.”

YASUHISA ARAI – Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport

“Within the space of just two weeks, we’ve worked incredibly hard to make some useful performance steps. And, as I said yesterday, it’s encouraging to see that the gap to the front has been reduced, albeit not by enough to be competitive. 

“Today’s qualifying result was also a little bit disappointing. However, I think we can look forward to some enjoyable battles with those cars who qualified slightly ahead of us tomorrow.

“This evening, we’ll analyse everything that we possibly can from today, and see what comes from tomorrow.”

We’ve based our new pack on an extensive member’s survey we conducted over the winter.

80% of members told us they wanted a collector’s item as their gift. In terms of specific products we could make for members you ranked a keyring towards the very top. This set us the challenge of coming up with something truly McLaren and something members would be proud to carry everywhere with them.

We decided to make a premium genuine carbon fibre item to celebrate a part of our history which changed the sport forever. Something which fans of the sport and passionate members can take pride in and remember ever time they use.

Members also asked for help with Grand Prix tickets, more events and competitions just for them. So we introduced the following:

• £20 discount off Grand Prix bookings exclusive to members through BookF1.
• Exclusive weekly members only competition run on our member dedicated twitter @TeamMcLaren
• Confirmed access at our garage  for Team McLaren members again this year at Goodwood FOS
• More Team member tickets will be made available to our MTC motorshow in 2015

You told us you wanted member only events and this is something we are looking to provide. Watch this space!

Also, should you wish to save even more we have created a Digital Membership with all the benefits of our Adult membership but we have removed the welcome pack to save you money.

We are also investing in more dedicated member content so we can share more great articles and videos with you than ever before. It is important to us that your membership is not just great value but provides great content throughout the season.

We had lots of feedback regarding our online store and unfortunately many members have experienced issues. However, we are tackling these head on and throughout this year will be committed to providing members with news and offers before anyone else.

We hope you enjoy the changes we have made to the membership and we will continue to build on this. Throughout this year you will see much more of the things you want and love. Thank you for your support and please let us know what you think on @TeamMcLaren. 

“A definite step forward”

Sepang International Circuit, Friday March 27

FERNANDO ALONSO, MP4-30-03

“It feels great to be back in the car – I enjoyed driving so much today. Maybe I’m not quite 100 per cent fit after two weeks on the sofa and two weeks out of the car, but I’m fit enough to enjoy it out there.

“Today really feels like the second day of testing for me – I had one solid day’s running in Barcelona during the winter, when I did 63 laps, and I managed 45 today. Plus, we ran with zero problems – so that’s an important step, too.

“We are improving the aero package, gaining a greater understanding of the power unit, and we also have better interaction between everyone working on the car. Every lap is a learning curve for us.

“The car feels consistent and easy to drive, and it’s giving me the confidence to push it to the limit. We had some issues with braking consistency today, but we should be able to resolve those overnight. I feel great – I enjoyed today so much.”

JENSON BUTTON, MP4-30-01

“I think everyone found it tricky with today’s heat, and it’s been tough to find a consistent balance today.

“A lot of people made mistakes – there’s very low grip out there – so the feeling inside the car isn’t as good as it was in Melbourne, but our overall pace over a single lap and over a long run is a little closer to the cars ahead of us. That’s a step forward. 

“We learned a lot today about the engine; we have a bit more power, although we’re still learning about driveability in some areas.

“I may have been wrong yesterday when I said that we might not be racing other cars on Sunday: it would be a massive step forward for us if tomorrow we’re able to get in among some of the runners currently ahead of us in the pecking order.”

ERIC BOULLIER – Racing director, McLaren-Honda

“Today has been a positive day for the whole team. We’ve worked incredibly hard since Melbourne to improve both the chassis and the power unit, and we definitely saw the results of those efforts during the practice sessions today.

“That’s very encouraging, as it shows that we’re heading in the right direction with our development programme, but we still have a significant amount of ground to cover before we can regularly fight competitively with the cars around us.

“Still, today has shown a definite step forward in performance – and I hope that we can maintain that momentum for the remainder of a weekend that has already proved more than somewhat arduous for both drivers and machinery.”

YASUHISA ARAI – Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport

“We have been tweaking and developing the power unit for this weekend, and I can confirm that our adjustments have been working positively in both practice sessions.

“However, there is still a big time gap ahead of us, so I’m not satisfied with today’s results. Our reliability today has been encouraging, but we still have slight concerns in certain areas because, as ever, the heat is every competitor’s biggest challenge around here.

“Tomorrow’s practice session will give us a further opportunity to increase our understanding of the data before we head into qualifying.”