McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton says MP4-26 needs improvements soon – Formula 1 news
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton echoed his teammate Jenson Button’s recent comments that his team needs to make some major improvements to its new car the MP4-26 before the 2011 Formula 1 season begins on March 27 in Australia.
It seems that it is not going to be easy for the team as they have just two more days of testing left for the final pre-season test session that is taking place in Barcelona currently. Lewis admitted that McLaren is not ready for running for the title at
the moment as he is relying on his team’s ability to improve its new car during the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Hamilton’s car suffered from an exhaust problem during the 2nd day of the final pre-season test session in Barcelona which became a major hurdle in achieving his targets of the day. The new McLaren has been quite unreliable during the pre-season
test sessions up until now and they are nowhere near the pace of Red Bull Racing team and Ferrari at the moment.
“Do I believe I have a car to win the world championship at the moment? I don't. No. But that doesn't mean it won't become a world championship-winning car. I have every belief in my heart that I can win many, many more world championships,” Hamilton said
in Barcelona.
However, he added that he is going to aim for steady results during the early stages of the 2011 Formula 1 season in order to enable himself to compete for the title later on.
“Everything is still to play for. As long as we keep pushing in the right direction with the development, and the new things we have coming several races down the line, hopefully they will enable us to close the gap and compete for wins,” said Lewis.
The 2008 champion stated that if the team secures some good points in the first couple of races, the points’ difference would not be impossible to catch later on in the season. He claims that he is ready for the upcoming season and he is going to be performing
at his best as soon as his team resolves the problems with its new car.
Lewis revealed that the main problem with the car is that it is not reliable for a long run which is going to become a major hurdle for the team in the future if they don’t get rid of it as soon as possible. Scoring at least some points is better than leading
a race until the last couple of laps before retiring to score nothing.
The first couple of races are going to be quite exciting and it would be interesting to see how McLaren perform in the beginning of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
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