China was another challenging weekend for McLaren-Honda, where once again they left without putting any points on the board. However, for the first time this season, both cars finished. On the Friday, they seemed to have made another leap in performance, by posting decent times during practise. There was a feeling that either or both cars could get into Q2. However, come qualifying on Saturday, this never materialised, and both McLarens were stuck in Q1 for the third consecutive race, just ahead of Manor.
2015 Chinese Grand Prix McLaren Review
NO.14 FERNANDO ALONSO (ESP)
Grid: P18
Race: P12
After a poor qualifying, Alonso, starting on the option tyre, did his usual thing and made a good start, gaining two places on the first lap. In his first stint, he ended up racing the Red Bulls. His engineer came on the radio, asking if he could extend his first stint due to the lack of performance that the prime tyre was showing for other teams. He came in on lap thirteen for a set of primes. After Button’s pitstop, the team asked Alonso to let his team-mate past, as they were both on different strategies. On lap 36, Alonso pitted for the second time, and put on the option tyre for his third and final stint. The third stint was spent mainly on the rear of the Button-Maldonado battle, and he gained two positions when both of them had a coming together near end of the race.
NO.22 JENSON BUTTON (GBR)
Grid: P17
Race: P14 (Finished P13 but classified as P14 after five-second penalty added)
For the third consecutive race, Button out-qualified his team-mate, and for the second time he out-qualified Alonso. Like his team-mate, Button started on the option tyre. At the start, he kept position, but got overtaken by Alonso. He was able to battle with the Red Bulls as well, and stretched his first stint two laps longer than the Spaniard could do. Button choose another set of options for his second stint, and was able to get past his team-mate two laps later, due to team orders. On lap 33, he pitted for a set of primes for his final stint. Button started to have a battle with Maldonado, with both drivers swapping positions. It ended in disaster on lap 49, when Button ran into Maldonado’s rear, which ended the Venezuelan’s race, and resulted in Button losing a position to Alonso, and getting a five-second penalty after the race, which demoted him from thirteenth to fourteenth.
Even though once again it was a non-scoring race for McLaren, their performances are starting to improve, and their first points finish will come soon. The question is: will it be in Bahrain?
