Formula One news

McLaren making steady progress

With political issues somewhat overshadowing proceedings in Malaysia, it is easy to overlook McLaren's performances on the track at Sepang. The team finished the day in ninth and eleventh positions, with Heikki Kovalainen once again appearing to have the advantage over World Champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The Finn, who took his first Grand Prix victory in Hungary last season, first ventured out for an installation lap in order to evaluate new body parts. This was followed by a 3-lap sprint which was comprimised by traffic and a locked-up tyre, comprising peroformance. Because of this, just one more sprint followed before the team choose to bring a premature end to Heikki's day in order to conserve the Bridgestones. "Grip was immediately good, and the track was less dusty than in Australia," Kovalainen explained. "We've made some good progress with the car's development."

"We compared both tyre compounds and posted consistent lap times," said Mercedes' Norbert Haug. "After today, I would not say that we made a step forward but at least it looks as if we are headed in the right direction. The team has improved quite a lot since the Barcelona test less than a month ago, but everybody inside Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is aware that we still have a lot of work ahead of us until we are back at the top."

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