Formula One news
McLaren admits lack of pace
13 March 2009McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that the team is struggling for pace in testing at the moment, with both Kovalainen and Hamilton near or at the bottom of the timesheets on all four days in Barcelona this week.
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| Whitmarsh assumed the role of McLaren Team Principal from Ron Dennis in January |
Whitmarsh, newly appointed Team Principal for the 2009 season, confirmed to reporters at the Circuit de Catalunya that the latest MP4-24 - despite meeting expectations in earlier tests - now appears to be somewhat lagging behind its competitors. "This week the car has run in Barcelona with an updated aerodynamic package, as we had always planned it would," the Englishman explained. "A performance shortfall has been identified that we are now working hard to resolve."
Mercedes-Benz engines will power McLaren for the fourteenth consecutive year in 2009, as Vice President Norbert Haug agreed that the Woking-based team is not yet happy with its new model: "We are definitely not where we want to be," the German added. "We will continue our test programme next week at Jerez for another four days, but it will take time to improve."
"The MP4-24 is certainly not quick enough yet, and certainly not by our team's extremely high standards" continued Whitmarsh. "It's a combination of factors: the Mercedes engine is strong, which we saw last year, so the car's performance shortfall is clearly chassis related." This week's Barcelona test saw the debut of the new Brawn GP cars which, also powered by Mercedes engines, blitzed the field with Rubens Barrichello's time on Thursday eight tenths of a second faster than second-placed Rosberg's Williams. Whitmarsh added: "The Brawn looks quick and I am glad it is quick but McLaren, Mercedes and FOTA (the Formula One Teams' Association) were at the forefront of a collaborative effort to make ensure that the team was able to survive, so it will therefore please us rather than dismay us if Brawn GP not only survives, but thrives."
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| Haug celebrates with Lewis Hamilton in 2008 |
"Obviously, we have a lack of downforce," Haug explained. "We are currently working hard to solve that problem. Basically, the drivers have said that the car feels good but we are definitely not fast enough and not competitive enough to aim for victories."
McLaren will run the car for four more days in Jerez next week before departing for Australia, where the cars will take to the Albert Park track for the first time in Friday's practice. Whitmarsh continued: "Although many of our rivals are not attending next week's Jerez test, we aim to continue to develop the car and the result should be measurable on the stopwatch."
Lewis Hamilton scored five victories for McLaren in 2008 as Finnish team-mate Kovalainen also celebrated crossing the line first in Hungary; it is looking though as though the team still has work to do for Lewis to record a repeat Melbourne victory, as Whitmarsh concluded: "Will the car be quicker than it has been this week in Barcelona? Yes. Will it be as quick as we want it to be by Australia? Perhaps not."
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