It is latest today that Jenson Button said his ninth spot on the matrix at the Belgian Grand Prix was his best qualifying drive of the season as questions twirl about his future.
The Englishman said it was “one of the best laps I’ve ever done” after he was timed 1.3 seconds off Nico Rosberg’s shaft time for Mercedes.
“It was like getting pole position here in 2012; actually probably better,” said Button, who was 0.8secs faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2012.
“This is a tough circuit for us.”
Button confronts rivalry for his seat as Alonso’s team-mate one year from now from McLaren save driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
The team are ready to choose one month from now between the two drivers and their issue was stressed this weekend by an intercession from Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, who said it would be “insane” of the team not to advance Vandoorne.
The Belgian is the most exceedingly appraised driver not in a full-time F1 seat and he out-qualified Button and scored a point on his sole fabulous prix appearance as such, when he supplanted a harmed Alonso in Bahrain toward the begin of this season.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso had a troublesome weekend, be that as it may. The Spaniard, who was 0.2secs speedier than Button in definite practice on Saturday morning, had a progression of dependability issues with the new engine and couldn’t finish a lap in qualifying.
“It’s painful when you have these reliability problems,” the two-time champion said, “but it is part of the learning process and we need to understand what is too fragile, reinforce and make sure next year we have an engine capable of fighting for the championship.”
His engine disappointments mean he will begin from the exact back with an aggregate of 60 framework places worth of punishments – besting the 55 amassed by Mercedes’ Hamilton, who will begin nearby him on the back column.
McLaren were expecting a troublesome weekend in Belgium on the grounds that the long straights at the Spa-Francorchamps track uncover the force shortage of their Honda engine.
Be that as it may, an execution redesign from Honda during the current weekend – said to be worth 0.1-0.2secs a lap – has empowered McLaren to hold their aggressive position simply inside the main 10.
“He deserves a seat in F1,” Wolff said. “If guys like Stoffel don’t come into F1, the system is wrong.”
Button responded: “I did my talking on the track today.”
