Jenson Button has admitted to feeling sorry for the latest McLaren mechanic to suffer at the hands of the team’s pit-stop process. Button was on course for a fifth-place finish at least in last Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix when his race was ruined by a tyre-change error.
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The 33-year-old was released without the right-front wheel being pitted properly, forcing him to stop halfway down the pitlane where his crew had to push him back to finish the job.
By the time Button returned to the track he found himself a lap down and out of the points, with a late surge ending a few laps from home as the front-left wheel was suffering severe vibration.
Despite missing out on the ten points, Button refused to condemn as told
The Guardian:
“The guy on the front-right (wheel) was devastated. I really feel for him because it was such a small mistake and it can cost you dearly, as it did. But I don’t hold any grudges with anyone. It’s a mistake and the guy has apologised.”
Last season McLaren ended the campaign by setting world record times for their pit stops of 2.3secs, and aiming for sub-two seconds.
Button feels that as a precaution going forward, to ensure there is no repeat of what happened last Sunday, the team should ease off on its need for speed in changing tyres.
“Now we’ve worked so hard on getting the pit stops as quick as possible, but maybe we have to back off a little to get a bit more consistency.”
