McLaren
team principal Martin Whitmarsh conceded it was a shame but said victory was
unlikely given the fact that Rosberg’s tyres had not degraded as quickly as
everyone expected them to.
“One in a hundred cross threads and he [the mechanic] had to swap to another
gun,” Whitmarsh said. “But I think it would have been difficult to beat them
[Mercedes].
“Clearly if we hadn’t had the problem in Jenson’s last stop we would have got
him out in clear air and with fresher tyres he would have gone on to hunt
down Nico.
“But, in fairness, Nico’s tyres didn’t fall away as we thought they might.”
Whitmarsh, though, was delighted with the way that Button and team mate Lewis
Hamilton, who started even further back in seventh, had stormed through the
field to secure the remaining podium places.
Hamilton, who has finished third in all three races this season, now leads the
drivers’ championship by two points from Button, with fewer than 25 points —
the amount on offer for a race win — separating the top seven drivers.
“We have really got a great championship here,” Whitmarsh said. “We have got
three winners and three very different races so far. We are not dominating
but no one else is.”
Whitmarsh added that, with Sauber and Lotus showing excellent pace, this was a
season when a drivers’ ability to pass cleanly was going to be crucial.
“This is going to be a season when you have to deliver, limit the mistakes and
you have got to be able to overtake on the circuit,” he said.
“You saw how many cars our drivers had to overtake. I am sure you could see
the marbles that were on the track, there was a lot of debris.
“It is all very well having the DRS [moveable rear wing] but you are
travelling at very high speed, you go out on the marbles.
“You will hear it and feel it and then to hit the brakes late is a very,
very brave thing to do. Some people get that wrong but both our guys get it
right every time.”