17/03/2012
NEWS STORY
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Despite locking out the front row of the Melbourne grid, McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are not getting carried away, realising that in F1 nothing should be taken for granted.
With some already tipping the Woking outfit for title glory, both drivers prefer to take it one step at a time.
"I think over one lap we obviously know the cars that seem quick today," said Button following today's scintillating session. "Whether it's going to be the same at the next race or the race after that it's very difficult to know.
"You could say the bigger teams would have the resources to upgrade the car throughout the year, and I think we've shown in the last couple of years we're very good at that but other teams have also shown that.
"Over a long run I don't think anyone really knows who's going to be quick. We hope that we are. I'm sure that we're going to have some competition tomorrow over the race distance. The Red Bulls obviously weren't so quick today compared to us but you can never discount them. I think they will be quick tomorrow. The same as Lotus, Lotus' long runs seem pretty good as well and Mercedes. It's those four teams I think that we've seen over the winter and also here this weekend have been competitive. The gap between those teams, i don't know what that is yet but I think it'll be those four teams fighting at the front."
Since 2008, the man on pole for the first race has gone on to win the title, it's a prospect that has Hamilton salivating. "It was such a long time ago so I don't really remember too well," he says, reflecting on Melbourne 2008. "But I remember the car was great back then.
"I've got to say the car felt fantastic today and has done all winter," he added. "Obviously we're in a good position, on a good footing, but we can always improve in all areas, so we'll just continue to press as always."
Though not on pole this weekend, Button was on pole here in 2009 in the Brawn and went on to championship success. "This one's got a lot more sponsors on it!" he laughed. "A lot more is expected of us this weekend but I don't think you can compare year to year because things change because we're running on completely different tyres now to then.
"What's positive is that we've been making changes all weekend and the car really listens to changes; good or bad you can really understand those changes. That's a real plus point with the car. There are many areas we've improved the car from last year - obviously we lost a lot of downforce in the change in regulations but I think the car itself is a good step forward on the feeling of the car from last year."
"I don't find the car sliding too much," says Hamilton, expanding on the downforce theme. " It does feel quite similar to last year, except as Jenson said just when you're on power the downforce we had previously was quite a lot so the apex speeds look quite a bit up compared with this year. If I wanted to slide more I'd move to rally cars, I definitely want more grip."
"I'm not that far off what I did last year in qualifying," adds Button, "but I didn't do very well last year in qualifying. They're moving around a little bit more but it's more the slow speed corners where the cars are moving around compared to last year because you don't have the big exhausts shoving exhaust gases into the floor.
"It's more when you get on to the power there's a big difference I think for everything. You can see there are more snaps, more wheelspin which in turn can be difficult to look after your tyres. For me I think there's no massive difference from last season. We've lost downforce, but for me it's more the low speed corners than the high speed corners."
"The tyres have been improved a little bit this year, and picked up a little bit of grip generally all round," adds Hamilton. "The degradation is probably similar to last year, maybe the tyres last a little bit longer but generally you have the same sort of drop off where it'd be the rear tyres if you're able to get all the tyres working. Hopefully we'll be able to extend the runs a little bit longer than we could last year."
"I think most people have only done 8 laps so far on a set of tyres," says Button. "And that's not because they don't last any longer it's because we just haven't been able to do any more running with the conditions over the last two days. Nobody really knows.
"Winter testing?" he continues. "I think if you look at winter testing you can get lost because I remember the last season, winter testing for everyone the consistency was very bad, degradation was very poor. I think coming here we're very open minded in the race. I think we have to be very open-minded because we really don't know what's going to happen yet."
"Normally we've got more than one rival," chips in team boss Martin Whitmarsh. ""It's an interesting challenge. As Jenson's highlighted we've had very limited long running here. We're at the first race of the year with new tyres so tyre degradation we do have to be agile, we have to be looking at the data, listening to our drivers and between us making sure that whilst we want tyres to last as long as possible we don't hang out there too long once they get into really serious degradation.
"We'll go in with a plan A, B, C, D and we'll work it out as the race develops," he adds. "We'll have a lot more information by lap 10, lap 12, lap 14 than we've certainly got in front of us at the moment."
Looking ahead to the season as a whole, Hamilton adds: "Every year we just focus very much on developing the car in the right direction. Fortunately me and Jenson demand pretty much the same set up and the same things from the car so we're able to push the car in the same direction.
"We've been waiting for upgrades and they've come, and they've delivered, which is fantastic. The car looks good and the biggest question was always if the car looks good will it drive good, and clearly it is. We've got to make sure that we continue to perform the way we have in the past few years in the way we've caught up we can continue with that performance from this point then we should be in good stead for this season."
"I totally agree with everything Lewis said there, yeah I do" adds his teammate. "That was a really good answer actually. We've really hit the ground running because we've had the reliability which is something we haven't had the last couple of years. Lewis and myself were able to put some good mileage in testing and to develop this car with the package we already had and then we obviously stuck on the package for the last two days of testing which was a good leap forward and we're able to see that here today.
"For any team and any driver to start the season off with a win is massive," adds the 2009 champ. "And to be on the podium at the start of the year is massive. That has to be the aim, and I'm going to have a lot of fun tomorrow fighting for that."