page_title: McLaren MP4-25
section_title: Racing history
hierarchical_section_title: McLaren MP4-25 / Racing history
caption_attribution_description: Button in Australia
context_page_description: The McLaren MP4-25 is a Formula One racing car designed and raced by McLaren in the 2010 season. The car, which was driven by 2009 World Champion Jenson Button and 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, was officially unveiled at title sponsor Vodafone's headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, UK on 29 January 2010. The MP4-25 was the first McLaren car to be independently built by McLaren only after being demoted to Mercedes customer team following Mercedes F1 rejoined as a full-constructor team by purchasing 75% stake of Brawn GP ownership.
context_section_description: The MP4-25 proved to be a stark improvement over the McLaren MP4-24 with both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton reaching the third stage of qualifying at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton got the better of the car in Q3 placing the car fourth on the grid with Button managing eighth. During the race the car proved lacking in downforce causing it to struggle to keep up with the pace of the Ferraris and Sebastian Vettel who opened up an impressive lead. During an uneventful race Hamilton finished third thanks to a problem with Vettel's car, Button also picked up a place during the race and finished seventh.
  In Australia, Button was the first to come in for slick tyres on a damp but drying track, which lifted him to second place after the other drivers had pitted. He inherited the lead when Sebastian Vettel retired with brake problems and maintained the position to the end of the race without changing his tyres again. Hamilton finished sixth after a controversial weekend both on and off the track.
  In Malaysia, McLaren seemed to improve their overall pace by three-tenths of a second due to performance updates to the car, with Hamilton recording the fastest lap time in both free practice sessions on Friday. Button also finished in the top ten in all three practice sessions. The first qualifying session was wet and the team relied on the weather radar rather than using common sense to misjudge the weather conditions, failing to send their cars out at the optimum track conditions. Hamilton failed to make it out of the first part of qualifying, setting the 20th best time. Button just made it out of that session, but due to him aquaplaning into the gravel trap, he started seventeenth on the grid taking no further part in the qualifying session. Both drivers finished in the points, with Hamilton finishing sixth and Button eighth.
  In China they scored a dominant 1–2 finish. In Spain, Hamilton had been running towards the front for the majority of the race, but crashed out on the penultimate lap when a front wheel rim cracked and deflated a front tyre. Meanwhile, after qualifying fifth, Button experienced delays during his first pitstop, and got jumped by Michael Schumacher for which he was never able to recover, and finished in fifth place. In Monaco, the car lacked mechanical grip, with Hamilton and Button qualifying fifth and eighth respectively. Button retired on lap 3 with an overheating engine after a cooling duct was mistakenly left in the radiator, while Hamilton never managed to threaten the pace of the leaders and finished fifth.
  In Turkey, Hamilton and Button qualified second and fourth respectively amongst the two Red Bulls of polesitter Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. In the race, the car's straightline speed was evident when Hamilton challenged Webber for first place during the first stint, but was never able to pass. After being delayed during his pitstop when a rear wheel jammed, he dropped behind Vettel, and was keeping up with the pace with Button trailing behind him, whom after passing Michael Schumacher on the first lap was quietly matching the pace of the leaders. However, on lap 41, the two Red Bulls collided with Vettel retiring and Webber needing to pit for a new front wing. Despite a brief battle for the lead with Button as the race drew slowly to a close, Hamilton was never challenged, and led Button home for McLaren's second one-two finish of the season.
  In Canada, Hamilton claimed the first non-Red Bull pole of the season, and went on to claim the Drivers' Championship lead as led home Button once again for a 1–2, giving the team the Constructors' Championship lead. In Valencia, Hamilton qualified third behind the Red Bulls, with Button in seventh. In the race, Hamilton passed the safety car illegally – deployed after Webber ran into the back and over Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus –  and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. Despite this, Hamilton finished second behind Vettel with Button completing the podium.
  McLaren hoped to challenge Red Bull at Silverstone, introducing new aerodynamic updates 
caption: Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix, in the MP4-25's second race.
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