Formula 1: Jenson Button describes McLaren's form as 'embarrassing'

Formula 1: Jenson Button describes McLaren's form as 'embarrassing'
Jenson Button says McLaren's current form is "embarrassing" after another unsuccessful weekend, this time at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. The 2009 world champion dropped from 14th to 17th at the start before finishing in eighth place, just one position ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez. "It's a little bit embarrassing because we're not doing a very good job at the moment," said Button. "We are doing everything we can. Thanks for the support from the fans." McLaren are having one of their worst starts to the season in their recent history, with hopes of a first constructors' title since 1998 gradually fading away. The team are sixth in the standings, a whole 102 points behind Red Bull after just five races. Their best finish so far came in China, when Button ended the race in fifth place. In the drivers' championship, Button and Perez are 72 and 77 points respectively behind leader Sebastian Vettel. "We've got a lot of work to do," added Button after the race in Barcelona, won by Fernando Alonso. "There's a lot of useful information to go through from the new parts on the car and we've got some other parts coming for Monaco, too." Button and McLaren did a pretty good job though as the team's strategy helped him climb from 17th after the first corner to eighth at the finish. "I got a bad start, dropping back to 17th, and I was in a whole world of pain right then," he said. "I just couldn't get any tyre temperature. It was a slow lap to grid for some reason. The leader can dictate pace and, when a Mercedes is dictating, it's very slow. It works for them but not for us. When we moved to the harder of the two tyre compounds after the first stop, the balance was much better. I overtook a Mercedes and beat some cars we didn't think we would. It's not fantastic, but to get through to eighth shows a good job by the team in terms of strategy." Perez rued the decision to go out in the final part of qualifying rather tactically not set a time to save tyres. "I'm a bit disappointed," said the Mexican. "We didn't maximise the full potential of the car. I think we paid for what we did in qualifying by going out in Q3. We lost laps on the tyres there - and that really affected us. Our car is still improving, and I think we can do a slightly better job at Monaco. After that, I hope we'll be able to gradually close the gap to the cars in front of us over the next few races." Both McLaren drivers are pretty much out of the Drivers' Championship title, here are the odds for the top five favourites at Bet365: Sebastian Vettel - 5/4 Fernando Alonso - 13/10 Kimi Raikkonen - 11/2 Lewis Hamilton - 25/1 Felipe Massa - 50/1
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