MCLAREN’S JENSON BUTTON says he is confused about his lack of pace at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 2009 F1 world champion was fastest in practice two days before the Spanish GP, but could not replicate that form in qualifying or the race itself. Button’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from his demotion to the back of the grid to finish eighth at the Circuit de Catalunya.
In contrast, Button, who started in 10th, could only manage to move up one place by the end of Sunday’s race. And the 32-year-old Englishman does not understand what is going wrong.
“It was a tough weekend, especially on Sunday,” Button said. ”The most important thing is to understand why I didn’t have any pace over the weekend on low and high fuel.
“Even if qualifying doesn’t go well, normally we can get some good points in the race, but I couldn’t look after my tyres and I didn’t have any pace. It’s something that’s a concern.”
Since winning the opening race of the 2012 season in Australia and finishing second in China, Button has recorded disappointing returns of 18th and ninth respectively in his last two outings. It was most the recent showing in Barcelona that really worried Button and he is keen to sort out the problems ahead of the Monaco GP on May 27.
“My fastest lap of the race was 2.6 seconds slower than the quickest overall which is just strange, and I don’t understand why that is,” he said. ”And it wasn’t one end of the car I struggled with, it was both.
“I’ve never been in a position like that. It was very extreme.”
The former Honda and Brawn GP man believes his team is not the only one with some questions to answer in terms of consistency.
“Five different teams winning five different races, we really don’t know what’s going on, and I think that’s the same up and down the pit lane,” Button said.
