McLaren, Hamilton and Button disappointed hope for new updates

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished the European Formula 1 GP in fourth and sixth place. The two Englishmen said they were disappointed with the outcome of the race and urged the team to find more downforce.

After several races in which McLaren seemed capable of fighting Red Bull in Valencia, the Woking team was overtaken by Ferrari.

“I think we're a little bit behind in terms of downforce,” Hamilton said. “We have had no updates for several weeks. We have had updates to the front wing for example but not to the rear, and we lack load in that area."

According to Hamilton, McLaren could also suffer at Silverstone, when the ban on blown exhausts comes into force.

“I think the next race will be really, really difficult,” Hamilton said. “Once we lose the blown exhausts I think we will see some differences.”

Button agreed with his teammate: “We need good updates. We have to work with our heads down and improve the car, the package. Aerodynamically we need an improvement for Silverstone because we are not progressing and we need to focus on that. I know of some components that are coming but I think we need more. We have to take some risks because there is a big gap behind us, Ferrari is ahead of us and Red Bull is light years ahead. We need a big lap time gain and I don't think the new diffuser rules will have a big impact, maybe on lap times but not in terms of power ratios. We hope to improve more than the Red Bulls, but I'm not convinced at the moment."

Hamilton said his race in Valencia was compromised by a bad start and high tire degradation but explained that McLaren was not fast enough to aspire to anything more than fourth place in any case: “We did a bad start, really bad, and I lost positions to the Ferraris but in all honesty we weren't as fast as them so even if I had stayed ahead of them I would have struggled to keep them behind. The team asked me via radio to stay on the track longer, I tried to push while also trying to preserve the tyres. I pushed hard but the tyres... I was really struggling with oversteer. It seems like we took a step back this weekend in terms of performance, or the others took a step forward again. However, fourth place is positive compared to my last two races."

Button was affected by KERS problems: “I didn't have good balance, a lot of skating, so I struggled a lot during the race. We put a lot of strain on the front and then I had a KERS problem from mid-race, which for us means losing a lot every lap. We have an excellent KERS which gives us four or five tenths per lap."