McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton excited about the new McLaren – Formula 1 news
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton believes that the new McLaren is a lot better than the last edition.
McLaren had relative to other teams excluding Red Bull had a successful 2011 season. Red Bull had managed to fully utilise the advantage of using the off-throttle blown diffuser and McLaren were quick to come up with a similar design that worked better than
the rest.
In the final stages of the previous season, McLaren had updated their car quite a bit and the results were showing as well, and Jenson Button and Hamilton to some extent helped their team earn a second place finish in the constructors’ championship. Button
of course finished second on the drivers’ championship as well.
The 2012 season will begin with off-throttle blown diffuser banned for the season and hence Red Bull is expected to lose out on the extra advantage they had in the previous two seasons. However, Hamilton said that the even though McLaren looks very good
for the upcoming season, Red Bull is still the team to beat and cannot be ruled out as a favourite.
“Certainly, It will be up to us to be able to surpass it,” Hamilton told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “From what I've seen, however, the new McLaren seems a lot better than last year's ... Basically; the Red Bull is an evolution of the aerodynamic concepts introduced
in 2009. Midway through 2011 it was phenomenal, it was at the highest level and on top of that it almost never broke down. By contrast, when we had the same reliability, we lacked the same performance.”
“During the winter you always dream of arriving at the start of the season with a car that goes quick immediately,” he added.
Hamilton further said that he would like to start the season with results right away so that the team is not trying to play catch up during the season like in 2011. He also praised Button for his performance in 2011 but conceded that he was helped by the
technical team around him and that he wishes to beat his team-mate in the upcoming season.
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