On paper, the Malaysian Grand Prix was (somewhat predictably) a complete disaster for the McLaren team. After qualifying last of all of the cars bar the unprepared Manor Marussia duo and failing to finish the race with either car, the statistics will say that it wasn’t a good race at all for the team. However, there were definitely some positives to take from the weekend as the team’s two drivers – Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both found that they were battling with other cars, including the Red Bulls.
2015 Malaysia Grand Prix McLaren Review
No. 14 Fernando Alonso (SPA)
Grid: P18
Race: Retired on lap 21 (ERS)
Fernando Alonso’s first weekend back after his testing accident was not really a happy one. He found himself outqualified by his team mate by a tenth and did not feature all that much in the race, but Alonso appeared to be the one with the better race pace as he was notably ahead of his team mate on track. The Force Indias and the Lotuses were clear rivals on track, as well as the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, despite starting the race on the harder tyre.
No. 22 Jenson Button (GBR)
Grid: P17
Race: Retired on lap 41 (Turbo)
Button was pleasantly surprised to find that he was battling with former team mate Sergio Perez once again here. From what we could see, there was definitely some strong cornering speed in the McLaren. Before he retired, he even had the Red Bulls which finished on the edges of the points both in sight. It was definitely a massive step up from Australia here.
All in all, we have seen McLaren already make massive strides from where they were in winter testing. They were six tenths off of getting into Q2 already and they were able to race with the lower midfield pretty well. Obviously reliability will still severely hamper the team, but it may not be too long before we start seeing consistent race finishes, or even points.
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