Button Travels 30 Hours for McLaren Simulator Testing

There was no rest for the weary after the Malaysian Grand Prix, as McLaren ordered defending world champion Jenson Button back to Europe rather than allowing him to stay in Asia ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. According to Motorsport.com, McLaren wanted Button to make the 30-hour flight in order to spend one day at the team’s advanced UK racing simulator in Woking.

“Thirty hours travel for one day,” Button smilingly contemplated before leaving Kuala Lumpur. “But it will be worth it, hopefully.”

Button won in Melbourne but struggled in Malaysia, qualifying poorly before finishing eighth. Presumably, McLaren called Button back home so the team could work on some of the issues that began to creep up with the car at the last race. However, he was very optimistic that the new McLaren car can dominate Formula 1 by the end of the season.

“The great thing is our car is improving all the time, but I’m still not 100 percent happy with its balance,” he said. “Hopefully we can sort out some of the problems in the simulator. It’s a long way back but they wouldn’t be sending me unless there were a few things to test.”

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