A difficult day, but a step forwardJENSON BUTTONMP4-28A-03FP1         No time                                  1 lap                        15th

FP2         133.740s (+1.492s)                29 laps                    11th

Despite this mornings washed-out session, I think we got in all the running that we needed this afternoon, and we managed to get through most of our programmeincluding some running on Pirellis test tyre.

The car doesnt feel too bad out there, and the balance is reasonableits better than it was in Canadabut were still some way off the pace.Still, the engineers have lots of data to analyse, so theyll be able to find out whether the new parts have made the improvements that theyd predicted.SERGIO PEREZMP4-28A-01FP1         No time                                  1 lap                        19th

FP2         1m34.130s (+1.882s)             29 laps                    14thThe second session was quite productive; we managed to do a lot of work and run through all our preparations, so it wasnt a waste of a day.Nevertheless, I think were in a similar position to the last race, and still quite far from the front. Weve worked to improve ride-qualityand I think weve made a step forward in that area.However, not everything we tried today worked properly, so I still think we can aim to turn this weekend around.

MARTIN WHITMARSHTeam principal, Vodafone McLaren MercedesWe do seem to have been affected by an unusually high number of rained-out Friday practice sessions this year. While its the same for everyone, it can be frustrating when youre trying to run through a large and intensive programme of testing.While we were able to get quite a lot of mileage under our belts, theres still plenty of work left to do. Its been a difficult day, but with drier weather forecast for the next two days, were hopeful of making progress.