Engadget went behind the scenes with McLaren at the British Grand Prix and filmed two videos, one showing their tour with the team and the other an interview with Jenson Button.
You can watch the two videos below and read their original article here.
Thanks to Ralph Jagielka for the tip!
Scalextric
15th July 2010, 17:31
Who’s the McLaren gent describing full wet tyres as option tyres because they have a green stripe. Oops.
Lamo2741
15th July 2010, 17:45
well if he was in charge of tyre choice for the practice sessions…that would explain the lack of pace! :-)
US_Peter (@us_peter)
15th July 2010, 20:30
That guy seemed like a total moron. He sounded like he was just regurgitating information that had been given to him, and just not quite getting all the details right.
Patrickl
16th July 2010, 13:46
Yeah, I got that feeling too.
Centrifugal force repressurizing the tyre? Really?
It makes sense not to waste your best workers on tour guide duty though. Better send the “guy who makes the copies and serves the coffee” instead.
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
15th July 2010, 17:59
I’ve always wondered how much time Jenson spends doing “world champion” and McLaren stuff.
I remember Bernie has made comments in the past about “he’ll make a great world champion” or “as a world champion, he’s given nothing back”. Is he talking purely commercially? What exactly do they do?
beneboy (@beneboy)
15th July 2010, 18:27
I think a good world champion for Bernie is someone who will do lots of corporate and media work.
This would involve spending time doing interviews and promotional work during GP weekends as well as at events like Goodwood.
I’d imagine Jenson would be good in Bernie’s mind because he always appears to be happy doing this sort of stuff while Kimi would be the opposite…
James_mc (@james_mc)
15th July 2010, 22:36
I distinctly remember the first quote, possibly in the present tense though. Nothing of the latter one though?
Patrickl
16th July 2010, 13:51
I don’t remember Ecclestone saying the latter about Button (how can he really since Button has only been a champion for a short whle)
Ecclestone in 2007 did say of Alonso that he has “done nothing” for the sport since winning his titles. He also said that Raikkonen doesn’t talk at all and therefore that Hamilton would have been a much better champion than either of them.
Scribe (@scribe)
15th July 2010, 19:56
Nice little bit of diplomacy from button there, yes the upgrades working very well.
Good videos though specially the Jenson video,he really is a fantastic world champion an a gent, mostly when someone says, guy from telly seems like a really nice guy you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt, but Jenson really does seem nice.
An ah wow, these videos an pretty much everything to come out of Silverstone this year has made going to that place a massive ambition.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
15th July 2010, 20:34
It also seemed like he was being diplomatic about Silverstone, clearly being bummed that the race wasn’t at Donnington.
US Williams Fan
15th July 2010, 23:47
Thanks for the video!
How much $$$ does it cost to go behind the scenes with McLaren? or is it more of a “press/media” privilege thing?
Subaru_STi
16th July 2010, 2:02
they are getting publicity for their sponsors so its almost like a contactual requirment with their sponsors for the teams to get as much media coverage, interviews and exposure as possible, so i doubt it costs anything.
Electrolite
16th July 2010, 17:22
It still seems weird he drives for that team sometimes. Button + Mclaren just doesn’t sit well in my stomach still…