SEASON
34
S BLOXHAM/LAT
PREVIEW
WorldMags.net
McLaren in Abu Dhabi last November, and
continued with a spate of minor but costly
technical and operational difficulties during
the first pre-season test of 2015 at Jerez. Then
Honda encountered a serious problem with a seal
on the MGU-K component of its ‘ambitious’
Energy Recovery System, which ruined the
following test at Barcelona.
There is apparently no quick solution to
this problem, which is
understood to occur
when the two ends of the
specialist high-speed
driveshaft in the MGU-K
are not perfectly in
balance. Apparently, this
is a problem that afflicted
Mercedes in the build-up
to the first test of 2014,
but it managed to solve it
in time to avoid ruining
its pre-season. Honda,
which has not been
involved in F1 since
pulling its works team
(ironically the foundations
of that world champion
Mercedes squad) out of
the sport ahead of the
2009 campaign, has
been caught on the hop.
McLaren will use its
internal KERS expertise to patch up the Honda
MGU-K temporarily, while the Japanese
manufacturer works on a permanent fix.
In spite of all the difficulty and lost track time
so far, there is quiet confidence within McLaren
that its car will be a serious threat to Mercedes
before this season is through. “The car works
when you drive it,” says Button. “The driveability
of the engine has come a long way since the first
test, which is great from a driver’s point of view,
but you don’t get to see it because we run into
other problems we have to solve.
“The engine packaging on this car is fantastic,
which helps the airflow for the aerody namics.
And that hasn’t caused any issues at all in
terms of temperatures.
“There have been some pretty tough preseasons before at McLaren. We had the ‘hoover’
exhaust in 2011, which just
kept falling apart.
Pre-season testing for us
has a lot of the time been
very tough, but most of
the time we can pull it
together reasonably well.
“None of us knows what
to expect when we arrive
at the first race. I don’t
think there are any
expectations on our side.
It’s about getting our
heads down and focusing
on the issues we have.
In some areas we are
very strong, but some
areas are letting us down
[at the moment].”
The initial focus is
simply on making the
MP4-30 work properly.
This is another reason
why McLaren has opted for an experienced driver
line-up, because you can better rely on such
drivers when things aren’t running smoothly.
But once they are running smoothly, attention
will shift to the drivers, and who is gaining the
upper hand. Kimi Raikkonen – like Button a
one-time world champion – found out last
year how difficult life could be racing Alonso
in equal equipment, but Button appears
“I’M USED TO
HAVING NEW
TEAM-MATES,
AND PRETTY
GOOD ONES
AT THAT”
JENSON BUTTON
34 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
WorldMags.net
unperturbed. In a revealing interview with this
magazine late last year, he declared the prospect
of being Alonso’s team-mate held no fear for him,
and the man who outscored reigning world
champion Lewis Hamilton during their three
seasons as McLaren team-mates is maintaining
that confident and relaxed attitude.
“He’s the fourth team-mate I’ve had in four
years, so I’m used to new team-mates, and pretty
good ones at that,” says Button of Alonso.
“Working with an experienced driver is a good
thing; something you always want. When you
race, you’re there to compete against your
team-mate. That’s been the same since F1
started, so nothing has changed.”
Except something has changed this year,
because Alonso – widely regarded as currently
the very best all-round driver in Formula 1 –
will be on the other side of the McLaren garage
this season. But Button dismisses the received
wisdom that places Alonso in an elite group
of drivers operating on a higher level to the
rest of the grid.
“There are always three people picked out as
being better than the rest; I totally disagree with
that,” he told AUTOSPORT late last year. “I think
they’ve found themselves in the right position
at the right time on more occasions than others.”
Soon the world will learn whether that
statement was the faux confidence of a driver
fighting for his future, or the result of deep
inner confidence that will manifest itself once the
McLaren-Honda is competitive. Perhaps the
prospect of a second world title (to add to his
2009 success) will galvanise Button into
becoming even better...
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. The
McLaren-Honda is not, and will not, be ready to
deliver its two drivers that kind of success in
2015, so the Button-versus-Alonso battle for
superiority will have to be put on ice. Indeed,