(McLaren Mercedes)
McLaren Mercedes head to the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring aiming to build on their strong showing last time out at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone which saw Jenson Button qualify in third place on the grid and went on to finish the race in fourth place while Kevin Magnussen finished the race in 7th place.
The last time the Woking based outfit raced at the Hockenheimring in 2012 saw Jenson Button finish on the podium in second place behind race winner Fernando Alonso after starting the race in 6th place.
McLaren have had a great record at the Hockenheimring as they have eight race's there, their most recent win came in 2011 when Lewis Hamilton won the race after qualifying for the Grand Prix on the front row.
The team have taken a total of 12 pole position's in Germany however although their last win here came in 2011, their last pole position came in 2008. They also have 7 fastest laps.
McLaren go to the German Grand Prix this weekend in 6th place in the Constructors championship just 16 point's behind Ferrari who are in third place in the Constructors championship. The team have confirmed that for this weekend's race they will not run the FRIC suspension system which is set to banned in Formula One shortly.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix Jenson Button said:
'I remember racing at the old Hockenheim – four 200mph straights, a couple of fiddly chicanes and a stadium section where you held on tightly because the car didn’t have any downforce. It seems like a different level of craziness compared with today, but it was a lot of fun.
“The re-designed circuit could never be as mighty as the old Hockenheim, but it’s a fun little track, and it’s been purposely designed to encourage racing. The long, curved straight up to Turn Six is tailor-made for slipstreaming – you force the car ahead to be defensive, so it’s actually on the run to Turn Seven that you usually try to overtake, because you’re capitalising on the other car’s slower exit. Turn Eight is another place where you can try to make a move – because it’s possible to get into the corner side-by-side with another driver, and then make the position stick.
“There are a couple of high-speed corners, but the circuit is largely made up of low-speed turns, so our car shouldn’t be too disadvantaged. It’s a race that often throws up a surprise or two, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.'
Kevin Magnussen said:
'I’ve raced at Hockenheim before – back in 2010 when I was in German Formula 3 – and it’s a circuit that I enjoy. It has a good mix of corners, it’s a mid-speed track, it’s a place where you can spend a lot of the lap fighting other drivers, so it’s important to have a car that you feel comfortable pushing and which has good traction out of the corners – which is where a lot of overtaking moves tend to start around here.
“It’s a circuit which should hopefully suit us a little bit better than some of the faster, more aero-dependent tracks that we’ve visited recently. I don’t think that will significantly change the competitive order, but it would be good to get some more points under our belts as we push to move up both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.'
McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier is delighted with his teams recent upturn in form saying:
'It says a lot about the strength of our race team that we’ve recently managed to achieve some respectable results at circuits where we perhaps didn’t expect to shine. We’re aware that those results weren’t fully representative of the pace of our car, but were achieved because our race team has the experience and commitment to make things count when it really matters.
“Even if, on paper, the track in Germany suits us better than it seemingly did in Great Britain, we still need to maximise everything to be in a strong points-scoring position on Sunday afternoon. There are no short-term answers: we’re still pushing the development of MP4-29, and are hopeful that the lessons we learn during this season will have a positive effect on the development of next year’s car.
“In Jenson and Kevin we have two fantastic racers – both of whom have shown this year that they’re always pushing. When racecraft comes to the fore, they’ll be striving hard for some good results this weekend.'
© Ben Johnston 2014
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