Todays sessions were very usefulBahrain International Circuit, Friday April 19 JENSON BUTTONMP4-28A-03FP1         1m35.069s (+0.582s)             22 laps                    6thFP2         1m35.356s (+1.202s)             32 laps                    11th

Todays sessions were very productive for us. We completed some useful investigative work this morning before focusing on longer runs this afternoon.Its very difficult to know exactly what to do with set-up. This is a big traction circuit, with lots of low-speed exits and a few high-speed corners too, and that puts a lot of load into the rear tyres.The tyres are behaving a bit strangely heredriving conservatively doesnt seem to help their wear-life, so theres only so much you can do without damaging your outright pace.But weve tried a few things, and well get there. Ive already got a good feeling that weve found a set-up and a direction for tomorrow that will be more competitive. Theres a lot we can take away from today that will help us for tomorrow.SERGIO PEREZMP4-28A-02FP1         1m35.640s (+1.153s)             23 laps                    11th

FP2         1m35.589s (+1.435s)             37 laps                    13th

We managed to complete our full run-plan in both the morning and afternoon, which was a positive, but its going to be a difficult weekend for us.Although well probably be fighting to get into Q3, theres still plenty of potential for having a good race on Sunday. The team has shown before that, with solid preparation, we can run a clever strategy on Sunday, and I think we have enough raw material from today to help us race strongly this weekend.So, scoring points is a realistic ambition for us here in Bahrain.MARTIN WHITMARSHTeam principal, Vodafone McLaren MercedesNeither Jenson nor Checo had any real problems during todays sessions, but, like many teams, we struggled to make the Option tyre last across a stintthats likely to be a recurring problem throughout the rest of the weekend, in fact.Nevertheless, there are some positives to take from today: we did a lot of running, gathered some useful data, and our upgrades proved helpful.

As always, well now go away and analyse our data and well come back well equipped to make a big effort on both Saturday and Sunday.