So far in testing the new McLaren has looked a decent car, if you are Lewis Hamilton. The Stevenage-born youngster has looked back to his best with the new McLaren MP4-25, while the teammate and reigning world champion Jenson Button has struggled to get to grips with things.
This could possibly be down to the fact that Hamilton has been involved in the design of the car from the beginning. It was clear early on in the 2009 season that the McLaren would not be competitive and at that point they began looking to the future. As their crown jewel, Hamilton has had a greater input into how he sees the car and what he would like it to do.
Button on the other hand was poached after his remarkable season at Brawn. There were a few squabbles about him moving over like that while Brawn strapped on their lederhosen and recalled the past-master Michael Schumacher.
Button therefore missed out on having any input into the car as he joined just before testing commenced. For him testing has been a steep learning curve, where for Hamilton it’s about mastering control.
Their different preparations have been reflected in their performances. Hamilton has been a real pace-setter clocking in a 19.583 in Jerez making him quickest overall and he has spoken about how much he likes the car. “I have a positive feeling,” he said. “I’ve kept a close eye on the development of this car. I have seen it evolve and I was excited today to see what parts have improved.
“Hopefully, we’ve got rid of a lot of the bugs we had in the previous car. It felt good. It was night and day compared to the first day of 2009. I got out of the car smiling.”
Trying to muster a smile Button was left to meekly say: “This is the wrong place for us to be thinking about who is quick and who isn't. I'm guessing everyone is going to be having updates for the first race anyway and with the difference in fuel loads, you could be running 10 kilos or 160 kilos, so there is a massive difference and it is difficult to read into it.”
Button ended the Valencia testing fifth fastest overall, with a best lap of 1min 12.951sec, which was more than half a second down on Hamilton's best effort the previous day.
In the Jerez tests he has looked a bit quicker, but still off of Hamilton’s pace and the world champion must be starting to worry as the season approaches. Schumacher and Fernando Alonso are the other world champions on the grid and Felipe Massa, Seb Vetell and Rubens Barrichello are all more than capable competitors.
So far Hamilton and Button have been nice as pie to one another, saying how competition among themselves will help push each other on. However as soon as the season starts expect the niceties to be over and unless Button can get to grips with his new car quickly it’s going to be a long season for the Somerset man.
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