McLaren Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button admit having issues with new car
Mclaren-Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button admitted that their car for the 2011 Formula One season was off the pace compared to rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. However, both drivers were hopeful of being in a better position before the start
of the season in Australia on 27th March.
The British team had a strong 2010, but they weren’t that good at the start of the season. The team had to do a lot of catching up to title winners Red Bull, which cost them some crucial points at the start of the season, and they ended as runner ups.
However, there were high hopes from Mclaren for the upcoming season, but the team hasn’t been able to get enough mileage in the pre-season testing so far.
The 2009 champion Button stated, “This year, at the moment, we've had some issues in testing in terms of getting parts to the circuit and a couple of reliability issues, so we've not done as much running as we would have liked, which has hurt our set-up
work.”
The former champion further admitted that he didn’t get a winning feeling after he first drove the new car in the testing sessions. He said that the car didn’t have enough down force to challenge the top teams, and he was also struggling to familiarise himself
with the Pirelli rubber, which replaced Bridgestone this year.
Hamilton claimed that this year’s car was closer to last year’s challenger, as there was still some work required on that car in order to match the front-runners. He said that the car lacked grip, unlike his 2008 championship winning machine.
Even though both Mclaren drivers were on the back foot ahead of the season opener in Australia, they were confident that the last testing session at Barcelona would be more than useful for them. They said they would manage to get the speed and grip required
to win races in the next season.
At the moment, Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be the two teams which have the pace to win races in the 2011 season. However, Mclaren has the potential to sort their issues out ahead of the season opener and challenge other teams at the top.
Tags: