McLaren hoping for Silverstone miracle
Sunday 10th July 2011
McLaren have been left hoping for a miracle as they look to salvage something from their British Grand Prix weekend.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had felt the ongoing technical furore would disadvantage his team, but nothing seemed to have changed as they locked out the front row.
The only difference is that Mark Webber will start from pole ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the reigning champion settling for second for only the second time in nine races this season.
The deep concern for McLaren is not so much that Jenson Button is fifth on the grid and Lewis Hamilton 10th, it's the gaping chasm to not just Red Bull, but more importantly Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa both ahead of them.
Button finished 1.5secs behind Webber and 1.3secs adrift of Alonso, and the worry is little will change in the 52-lap blast around Silverstone.
Hamilton was remarkably upbeat, despite ending the session in his lowest starting position for 26 races.
The 26-year-old had been in a negative frame of mind after finishing fourth at the last race in Valencia, but he was more positive today, insisting McLaren can bounce back after a tough start to the weekend on home soil.
After listening to team principal Martin Whitmarsh openly concede the car is far from quick enough, Hamilton said: "Martin was quite courageous to come out and admit that.
"But the most important thing he said is that we are a team, we'll pull through it because we have experience in bouncing back from situations like this.
"For the fans, for our home grand prix, we would love to be sitting on the front row, but that is not the case.
"But we'll pull back, regroup, and obviously tomorrow anything can happen with the rainy conditions like we've seen over the last two days.
"Who knows? Maybe a miracle might happen tomorrow and we'll still get a one-two."
Turning to Button, Hamilton added: "I don't know about you Jenson, but I'm game."
But Button was the more downbeat member of the McLaren team on this occasion.
"It's been a very tough day for us," he said.
"For everybody in Formula One it's been a very busy weekend trying to work out what is going on with the regulations, which have been cleared up which is good to see.
"But we didn't qualify where we expected. My position isn't so bad, but it's the gap to the cars in front which is a lot bigger than I expected.
"To be 1.3secs off the Ferraris, who we are normally fighting with, is a big blow."
Unsurprisingly, Button is hoping the fans can play their part as he added: "To see the support does definitely drive you on, as I'm sure it does for the whole team.
"Hopefully we can put on a good show for the people who have been supporting us.
"They definitely deserve for us to have a good result, we'll do our best, and hopefully we can celebrate something."
Button has yet to finish on the podium in 11 previous attempts at Silverstone, and it will be a tall order if he is to end that run on Sunday with McLaren appearing to have been heavily compromised by the regulation changes.
The ban on off-throttle blown diffusers, and subsequent technical iterations surrounding it, have cast a shadow over the sport.
It seems likely that after much bickering, FIA technical director Charlie Whiting is prepared to adopt the rules in place before he made a change less than two weeks ago.
Webber hit the nail on the head when he stated what has unfolded this weekend is "incredibly boring for the fans" who "cannot understand 0.1% of what is going on".
It seems no matter what the regulations, you could almost say there is a 99.9% chance of a Red Bull being on pole, as they have for all nine races this season.
"The team has handled all this pretty well, whilst Seb and I have concentrated on the driving," said Webber.
"Let's just get on with the racing, keep the rules as simple as possible from the start of the year maybe and go from there.
"As for the race, I am in great shape. I have prepared well and am ready to challenge for the win for sure."
At least Paul di Resta gave the British fans something to cheer about as he will start a career-high sixth in his Force India.
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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