McLaren: First day in Sochi without problems

The first day at the brand new Sochi Autodrom passed without problems for the McLaren team, and both Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button declared themselves quite satisfied with their day's work.
 
Kevin Magnussen: “It was a pretty decent day for us today, and the car worked well. However, this is a brand new circuit, so it's difficult to be sure where we really are because we were mainly working on set-up rather than race pace. However, I can confirm that it is a nice circuit, it has a good bit of grip, the surface is quite good, and it seems to suit the Pirelli tyres, so that makes it very pleasant to drive. Also, the option [tyres] seem to last quite well, so we may not see a lot of pit stops in the race. Finally, the track is a little different from how it felt in the simulator, and also from my impressions when I walked yesterday; it's much better, to be honest. But, as I said, it is still too early to say anything definitive, because we don't know if today's result is the true picture, so we will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. Last, but far from least, Jules [Bianchi] is very much on our minds, and we are all still thinking about him and hoping for the best.”
 
Jenson Button: “Things went well today. We were fast on the Prime [tyres], and the fuel-loaded options seemed pretty good. With low fuel level I couldn't find a balance, but hopefully we can improve tomorrow. It's a circuit that seems to suit us quite well at the moment, but it will inevitably evolve tomorrow and we will have to be very careful about that. In the simulator, however, it wasn't very fun to drive at all, but here it's nice to drive, so I can confidently say that I'm happy with the work that the designers and organizers have done. Finally, as Kevin says, our thoughts and prayers are with Jules, who we all miss dearly.”

KEVIN Magnussen
MP4-29-02
FP1 (1m43.026s + 0.715s) 28 laps 5th
FP2 (1m40.494s + 0.864s) 32 laps 2th

Jenson Button
MP4-29-03
FP1 (1m42.507s + 0.196s) 28 laps 3th
FP2 (1m40.718s + 1.088s) 32 laps 6th