2011 McLaren - Mercedes

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Drivers:


3.    L. Hamilton



4.         J. Button




Team McLaren-Mercedes 2010 Season Stats

RACE   DATE   RACE PTS   TOTAL PTS

Bahrain GP   14 Mar 2010   21   21
Australian GP   28 Mar 2010   33   54
Malaysian GP   4 Apr 2010   12   66
Chinese GP   18 Apr 2010   43   109
Spanish GP   9 May 2010   10   119
Monaco GP   16 May 2010   10   129
Turkish GP   30 May 2010   43   172
Canadian Grand Prix   13 Jun 2010   43   215
European GP   27 Jun 2010   33   248
British GP   11 Jul 2010   30   278
German GP   25 Jul 2010   22   300
Hungarian GP   1 Aug 2010   4   304
Belgian GP   29 Aug 2010   25   329
Italian GP   12 Sep 2010   18   347
Singapore GP   26 Sep 2010   12   359
Japanese GP   10 Oct 2010   22   381
Korean Grand Prix   24 Oct 2010   18   399
Brazilian GP   7 Nov 2010   22   421
Abu Dhabi GP   14 Nov 2010   33   454

McLaren launches MP4-26 in Berlin
4 February 2011

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has launched its 2011 contender in Berlin, with the Woking-based outfit presenting the new MP4-26 in front of media at Kaisersaal. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were present to reveal their new machine for the upcoming season, with the pair hoping to take the team to championship glory this year.


At midday in the German capital, McLaren mechanics wheeled the MP4-26 into a pre-set area of the Potsdamer Platz venue, with fans bringing parts along to complete the bodywork of the team’s new challenger. The car features a radical sidepod inlet, sporting a unique shape unseen amongst the other 2011 cars launched thus far.


Further refinements have been made to the car's design from last year, with adjustments to the airbox and nose the most prominent changes. The team has opted to use a central rear-exhaust system, with most of the car going through design tweaks from its MP4-25 predecessor ahead of the 2011 season, which kicks off in Bahrain on March 13.

McLaren will run its new car for the first time at next week’s Jerez test, which takes place from February 10-13. Hamilton will be at the wheel for the opening day, before handing over to Button on day two. The remainder of the test schedule will be conducted equally, with Hamilton taking to the track again on Saturday, ahead of Button completing the team’s running at the Spanish circuit on Sunday.

 

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Hamilton positive after third day at Barcelona
20 February 2011

Lewis Hamilton was back in the cockpit of his MP4-26 today, after taking over from team-mate Jenson Button, who completed McLaren’s opening two days of the Barcelona test. Despite technical issues hampering the Woking-based squad’s testing efforts so far, Hamilton is confident that all of the problems faced will be rectified, and is confident of unlocking the car’s potential in the near future.

"This was a positive day: we’ve been focusing on our programme, trying to complete as many laps as possible, improve reliability and understand the Pirelli tyres," Hamilton explained. "We’re learning more and more about them every day.

"We’ve had a few technical issues with this car, but the guys have been working incredibly to rectify them. To get more than 90 laps under my belt today was a big positive, and I’m looking forward to a trouble-free day tomorrow."

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Button fearing for lack of testing mileage
28 February 2011

Jenson Button has acknowledged McLaren’s lack of mileage over pre-season testing so far, with the Woking team having fallen some 330 laps and 920 miles behind current leaders Ferrari since their winter programme started in Valencia at the beginning of the month.

At present, with one four-day test to go in Barcelona, Ferrari leads the way in terms of mileage (5,165.3 kilometres) from World Champions Red Bull and Mercedes GP, with McLaren in ninth position and ahead of only the three new teams of 2010.


Jenson Button
“I certainly didn’t complete the number of laps that I expected to,” 2009 title winner Button explained to Italy’s Autosprint at the third test, also in Barcelona.

“When it comes to developing a new car it’s essential to clock up many kilometres. Your rivals continue lapping and when your progress slows it can compromise your setup. I believe this car can give us a lot, but if development work is late you may pay a big prize over the first races of the season.”

With this in mind, Button went on to stress the importance of next week’s return to the Circuit de Catalunya:

“The next test will be important for putting together all of the components, KERS and a new rear wing, then we’ll have a clear picture of the situation. At the moment I think it’s very difficult to have an idea of where everybody lies.

"I’ve heard a variety of different rumours, but you can’t get a proper overall picture until the first race.”

_{Courtesy of:   gpupdate.net}

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McLaren drivers admit to lack of pace
2 March 2011

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have both hinted that their 2011 car may not be set to be challenge for race victories from the start of the upcoming season, with the team having dropped back significantly for mileage over the first three of four pre-season test sessions.


With Ferrari leading the way for mileage, with 1,172 laps having been racked up in Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona so far, McLaren are placed ninth out of twelve teams and ahead of only the three new entrants of last year, with 842 laps to their name after a selection of technical problems which have considerably limited running time.

“When I first jumped in it the first reaction was not, 'Wow, we're going to blow everyone away,’ no,” 2009 World Champion Button told Reuters. “I don't think anyone would have felt that because it's got a lot less downforce, the (Pirelli) tyres are working very differently to the previous (Bridgestone) tyre.

“But there's nothing that really scares me about the car in a negative way, so there's a lot we can improve with this car through general setup work. 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 setup work.


  “But we do have four days and hopefully everything's going to run sweet at the next test and we get a lot of laps in and we can improve the base that we have; there's a lot still to extract from this car that we haven't because we just haven't had time to do it, we haven't got everything together yet, so we don't really know where we are compared to the competition.”

Compatriot, team-mate and title predecessor Hamilton added:

“Of course we'd love to have had more mileage. I think we've good things coming in the pipeline and we've definitely improved in the last couple days, we got 107 laps (in one day) at the last test.

“The 2009 car was terrible because it was hopping, three-wheeling through corners, it was locking up and it had no downforce.


"This doesn't lock up, it doesn't three-wheel and it handles really nice, better than last year's car, but it just doesn't have as much downforce...so that's where it feels weak.

“Hopefully we've got some more downforce coming onto the car before the first race.” 

 _{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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2011 cars painfully slow, says Hamilton
8 March 2011

Formula 1 cars of 2011 have been dubbed as ‘painfully slow’ by 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who refers to the new Pirelli tyres which are purposely designed to degradate quicker and encourage more pit lane action this year.

“There is more to think about in the car, but Formula 1 does seem to have slowed down,” the McLaren driver is quoted as saying by The Guardian.


“The cars are slower on a race distance. Last year we had to make tyres last with heavier fuel load and now it's even slower. I did run the other day and it was painfully slow, it really was - just not exciting, to be honest.

“The first run, I didn't think I was pushing very hard, and the tyres were finished after nine laps, down to the canvas. On the next run, I had to go easier. It was almost like doing an out lap and just about made it to 15 or 16 on a soft tyre.”

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Car must improve to win title, says Hamilton
9 March 2011

Like team-mate Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton has said that the McLaren MP4-26 will not be able to challenge for regular race wins or indeed the World Championship title in its current state, with the Woking squad having dropped off in mileage this winter due to a selection of issues.

After Button spoke to reporters with a distinctly pessimistic tone on Tuesday, Hamilton echoed the sentiments of his fellow title-winning team-mate on Wednesday.



“Do I believe I have a car to win the World Championship with at the moment?” the 2008 Champion questioned when speaking in the Circuit de Catalunya paddock.

“I don't, no, but that doesn't mean it won't become a World Championship-winning car later.

“As long as we pick up good points in the first few races, we won't be miles behind; for example, if we were able to be in the top five for the first three or four races and get those points, it would still be possible to win the title if we then get a car capable of winning races.

“I'm definitely not shutting the year off – everything’s still to play for.”

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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De la Rosa returns to McLaren as reserve
9 March 2011

McLaren has announced that it has re-signed Pedro de la Rosa as a test and reserve driver for the team, joining Gary Paffett alongside Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Following the majority of a 2010 season with Sauber, 2011 will mark the Spaniard’s eighth term with the Woking squad.

Having made his Formula 1 debut with Arrows to score points in his first Grand Prix, Australia 1999, de la Rosa switched to Jaguar from the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix before enduring a tough full season with the outfit now known as Red Bull in 2002.

As well as Sauber last year, the Barcelona man also served as new supplier Pirelli’s tyre tester. During his first stint as a McLaren employee, the team challenged for drivers’ titles on three occasions before finally triumphing with Hamilton in 2008.

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Team McLaren - Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton: Vital to score points in Australia
19 March 2011

Lewis Hamilton has repeated that scoring points is the most McLaren can hope for as the 2011 Formula 1 season begins in Australia next weekend, with the former World Champions having suffered a harsh off-season period including a selection of technical problems which have significantly limited running time.

In terms of mileage so far, McLaren lies ahead of only the trio of 2010 debutant teams and are also, statistically, the most unreliable outfit on the grid at present. However, despite the unfavourable circumstances, the 2008 title winner is remaining upbeat.

“We can’t hide the fact that testing has been tougher than we expected; our test mileage hasn’t been as high as that of our rivals, nor have we had the outright pace of the fastest cars,” Hamilton commented on Friday morning.

“Still, I have a good feeling with MP4-26; I like driving our car, I think it will look after its tyres quite well and I understand that we’ll be making further performance steps ahead of this opening race.

“Nevertheless, we know we go to Melbourne ready for battle. Some teams are extremely well-prepared – both from a pace and reliability point of view – but that can sometimes count for little in the unpredictable and somewhat chaotic opening races, where it’s equally vital just to take points home.”

Jesen Button

Button hoping to ‘salute’ Japan in Melbourne
18 March 2011

2009 World Champion Jenson Button heads to Melbourne next weekend with the statistical chance of equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of three consecutive Grand Prix wins at Albert Park, although the McLaren driver admits that recent events in Japan are very much overshadowing proceedings.

Button with Japanese girlfriend Jessica Michibata

Button wrapped up very different victories on the street circuit in 2009 and 2010, with the first being a fairytale result for debutants Brawn GP and the second a maiden McLaren success thanks to a masterly strategy. However, with girlfriend Jessica Michibata hailing from Japan, the Frome driver’s mind is in one place only.

“In the past, I’d always travelled to Melbourne full of positive energy and enthusiasm,” he began, “but, at the moment, my heart is with the people of Japan as they struggle to come to terms with the scope of the terrible devastation and loss of life wreaked by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

“While the prospect of a Formula 1 race seems to pale in the face of such a disaster, there have been occasions before when the healing power of sport can actually be beneficial, an escape for people; so I go to Melbourne this weekend resolving to not only try my best, but also to salute the brave people and my many friends throughout Japan.”

He went on to describe his feelings over the Woking team’s on-track potential:

“Albert Park has been good to me: I’ve won there for the past two seasons; it’s a great circuit for racing, it always seems to create unpredictable races and, perhaps because it’s habitually at the start of the season when a precise pecking order has yet to be established, we often see fast cars running out of sequence.

“I’m regularly being asked if I can make it three wins in a row this year. On paper that might not look likely, but, seriously, who knows? I most definitely wouldn’t rule it out.”


_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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McLaren gambling on last-minute updates
21 March 2011

A number of modifications for McLaren will help the team’s cars be a full second quicker in Melbourne than they were at the final pre-season test session in Barcelona a fortnight ago, according to Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh.


It is generally considered that the Woking squad hoped to run an ‘octopus’ exhaust for the start of the season, but decided against the idea before travelling to Australia. However, Whitmarsh does believe that the latest fine-tuning could yield British World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button significant lap time reductions.

“The changes are intended to deliver more than one second in performance,” Whitmarsh commented. “We hope the risks we have taken pay off and that we’re competitive.”

However, it is not yet known whether McLaren elected not to run its radical exhaust system due to a lack of development – with a number of technical problems having limited running time in testing - or whether the innovation would be illegal under sporting regulations.

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal of McLaren

“The exhaust systems have become quite a lot more extreme on a lot of the cars,” Whitmarsh continued. “I think we in particular had very extreme solutions but, in my opinion, they weren’t delivering sufficient benefits for their complexities.”

He summed up that more should be expected of McLaren’s exhausts: “The car isn't a bad car, I just think we need to unlock the exhaust-blowing potential.

“We had some very creative ideas and some could have worked spectacularly well, but in order to work spectacularly well they had to be sufficiently durable and, frankly, some of our solutions weren't. We had to go back a little but, in doing so, we found some interesting performance.”

_{Courtesy of:   gpupdate.net}

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Button hails revised McLaren exhausts
25 March 2011

A relieved Jenson Button, despite insisting that today was only the very start of the 2011 World Championship, has credited those at McLaren and particularly the development work around the team’s revised exhausts for this weekend.

“Today showed that, first of all, we’ve got reliability – which is great,” said the 2009 Champion, winner in Australia for the past two seasons. “That’s something we’ve not had all winter, so to have a car that runs for as many laps as we want it to is very satisfying. It also means we can get stuck into our setup work and improve the car.

“I don’t think there’s much to be gained from looking at today’s times, though, so I’m not going to get too carried away. Still, it’s been a positive day because we’ve been able to do so much running and get a good feeling for the car on different fuel-loads.

“The new exhaust has definitely brought performance to the car – it feels much better, makes the handling more ‘complete’. When you have downforce at the rear, you can also add it at the front, and then you put temperature in the tyres – there’s so much that comes with downforce.

“I’m so happy with how hard the guys have worked and what they’ve brought to this race – they’ve worked really hard and they’ve delivered something good here. We don’t yet know how good, but we’re encouraged by the step we’ve made today.”

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Hamilton ‘absolutely thrilled’ to be on front row
26 March 2011
2011 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix: Saturday qualifying results

Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to his McLaren team after finishing the first qualifying session of the year in second place, edging out Red Bull’s Mark Webber to start tomorrow’s race from the front row. Following a difficult winter testing campaign, a wide range of updates to the MP4-26 in Melbourne have left the Briton in high spirits.

"I’m absolutely thrilled to be up here today," Hamilton commented. "The guys back at the factory have done an unbelievable job, really a massive step this weekend.

"The car is feeling fantastic, of course we still have a lot of work to do but I think we have really got ourselves on the right track and a great foundation for us to build upon.

"I know the guys back at the factory will keep going but a bit thank you to everyone at home, keep pushing."

Button: It’s a massive step forward
26 March 2011
2011 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix: Saturday qualifying results

Jenson Button has praised the improvements made to his MP4-26 in Melbourne this weekend, with the McLaren squad achieving a strong result in qualifying after a challenging pre-season testing period. Despite not maximising his potential during Q3, Button was pleased with the result and is excited ahead of tomorrow’s race.

"I think we should be happy with this result," he commented at the end of the session. "Q3 was a bit disappointing, however: I got stuck behind Nico (Rosberg), and Felipe (Massa) had a spin in front of me. It was all quite messy – the lap that I didn’t complete in Q2 would have been quicker!

"So we didn’t get the most out of our package in Q3, but it’s nonetheless a massive step forward from what we had in testing, so we should all be very happy with what we’ve done so far. And there’s still a lot we can build on: the car is still in its early stages because we haven’t done much testing.

"To be reliable and reasonably quick gives us huge motivation: everyone back at the factory should be really proud – they put in an awful lot of hard work to get us here today.

"I’m really looking forward to tomorrow: I had a good race from fourth last year, and I think I can have a good race from fourth this year, too. We ought to be positive and think we can challenge for the win tomorrow."

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Hamilton praises ‘great job’ by McLaren
27 March 2011
2011 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix: Sunday race results

Lewis Hamilton was full of praise for his McLaren squad after the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, stating that the team should be ‘very proud’ after his second place finish. A difficult testing campaign created doubts over the Woking-based squad’s potential in Melbourne, but substantial updates prior to the event have paid off.

"I think we can definitely take this and be very proud of ourselves," Hamilton commented. "The guys did a great job as I said coming into this weekend, and you know just a week or two ago we were not expecting to be anywhere near the top five. The car was reliable, it’s the longest the car has ever lasted. or that we’ve been able to take it.

Button frustrated after Massa battle
27 March 2011
2011 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix: Sunday race results

Jenson Button was left frustrated at the end of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, as the McLaren driver endured a tough fight back up to sixth after a move on Felipe Massa landed him a drive-through penalty. Button went around the outside of Massa at on the 11th lap at Turn 12, but failed to yield after cutting the chicane.

"I got an okay start and I was surprised to see Petrov on the inside." Button explained to a group of reporters. "He forced me wide and then I got stuck behind Massa. That was the worst move of the race, because he was so slow, and he is the most difficult person to overtake.

"He blocked very well but it slowed us down massively. Then I tried to overtake him at Turn 11 or 12 and he went so deep into the corner. He pushed me wide, I couldn't go around the corner anymore, so I cut it. I was in front before I entered the corner and then I didn't know what to do.

"The team said 'stay where you are, we'll see what the stewards say', but as soon as Ferrari saw that happen they pitted Massa, and as soon as that happens you get a drive-through."

The 31-year-old went on to discuss Ferrari’s decision to pit Massa just after the move, and also praised his team-mate’s performance:

"I don't know if that was done on purpose (Massa’s pit-stop) or not, but I got a drive-through and I had to find my way through, which was quite fun but being that far back is very frustrating because the pace was much better than that.

"I just wish I could have got the best out of it, but Lewis did a good job today. Still it wasn't the perfect race for him, as he had a bit of an off and damaged the floor. Red Bull's pace is very good but it was nice to see that he could hold on."

_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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‘Button penalty cost podium finish’ - Whitmarsh
28 March 2011

Martin Whitmarsh believes that Jenson Button would have finished on the podium in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, had the 2009 World Champion not been penalised for a passing manoeuvre on Felipe Massa which resulted in a drive-through penalty.

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal of McLaren

“Early on, Lewis (Hamilton) was more or less able to stay in touch with Sebastian (Vettel), but once his car’s undertray had been damaged he was no longer able to keep the leading Red Bull in sight,” Team Principal Whitmarsh began. “Even so, he drove a great race, in difficult circumstances, to finish second.

“Jenson drove hard and well all afternoon too, but was thwarted by two separate pieces of bad luck: first of all he got bogged down at the first corner, losing a few places, and after that he received a drive-through penalty for his passing manoeuvre on Felipe, even though he felt he’d been forced off the road by Felipe as he made good his pass.

“Had he not been given that penalty, he’d have been spraying champagne on the podium with Sebastian and Lewis this afternoon, but I guess that’s motor racing.

“Overall, though, when you consider where we were a few weeks ago, you’d have to say that for us to come away from Australia with 26 World Championship points is a pretty decent outcome. More importantly, though, it means that we’ve got a very promising platform from which to develop our car and compete for world championship honours this season.”

_{Courtesy of:   gpupdate.net}

2011 Formula One Melbourne GP Button vs. Ferrari

You be the steward! Find the violation:   (Hint:  12-4 seconds)

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Interview with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton
31 March 2011

Despite his floor gradually breaking away from the car, Lewis Hamilton was able to manage second place in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix as McLaren completed a full race distance for the first time this year. The 2008 World Champion describes the 58-lap Melbourne encounter before looking ahead to Kuala Lumpur.

img]http://photos.gpupdate.net/small/172264.jpg[/img]
18 points is a great prize to take away from the opening race, isn't it?

It is, it's a good starting point, especially given we never really thought we'd be in such a strong position so early on in the season.

Before the race, I'd said that it was important to get some points on the board early in the season. I think it's already pretty clear that it's going to be a long and tough championship, so you can't afford to drop points.

Every race is going to be important, so while I'd always prefer to win, Sunday was pretty much a ‘perfect' result for us - perfect in the sense that we scored good points and we feel we're going to be stronger in the next races.

We saw some spectacular shots of the car bottoming out after the floor worked loose, but the problem didn't seem to get any worse - how difficult was it inside the cockpit?


I saw a couple of shots on the TV after the race and it looked quite bad. After the race, I also had a look at the front floor and it was pretty badly banged up. Luckily, it wasn't too bad to drive - obviously I was losing a bit of downforce but, by then, I already had quite a comfortable margin over Vitaly (Petrov).

Into the closing laps, the team just told me not to push it or take any unnecessary risks - they asked me to steer clear of the kerbs because, obviously, that's where you're going to most unsettle the car and the floor - and, happily, it all worked out fine.

How surprised were you by the pace of the car last weekend and how positive do you feel about the forthcoming races?

In a way, I'm never surprised by what the team does because they always seem able to do impossible things! Of course, going into this race we weren't certain about our performance - we were optimistic, because our simulations were showing a significant improvement, but you never know until you finally get to the track.

I feel really comfortable with this car - I'd always said the car felt good, we just lacked a bit of downforce and some decent mileage during the winter tests - and I feel like it's a car that is easy to push to the limit, so I'm very hopeful of what will be coming along to add to its performance down the line.

In terms of developments, what's next in the pipeline?

As you know, this team is a relentless development machine. We've got two weeks until the next Grand Prix, so we'll be pushing through some more improvements.

What I think is just as important, actually, is the fact that we got a lot of data about the car this weekend - and we've only just started to exploit this package. What I think will be interesting is how the engineers are able to go back to the factory and understand just what we have and how we can improve it.

Don't forget, before the race on Sunday we'd only really had about four hours of track time to develop and understand the new floor and exhausts; and Sunday was our first race distance of the year. So I think there's a lot there that we can really learn to push and get an even better understanding of how the car works.

But, going back to the original question, I've been speaking with Doug (McKiernan) and the aerodynamicists and engineers and we've got a huge amount of interesting stuff in the pipeline. As a team, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes never sits still - you can guarantee we'll have new parts arriving for the next race and Martin (Whitmarsh, Team Principal) is fantastic at pushing the team to bring forward whatever we have.

It's relentless, but it's really where we excel as a team - we never give up, we work incredibly hard and we make sure we deliver. I want to thank every man and woman back at MTC (McLaren Technology Centre, Woking) for working so hard and for putting in so much effort to get us back to where we belong. Your efforts are honestly and truly appreciated.

Interview with McLaren’s Jenson Button
31 March 2011

Jenson Button failed to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of three consecutive Australian Grands Prix victories in Melbourne, although the 2009 World Champion is confident that McLaren’s strong performance was no fluke.

A race of mixed emotions, perhaps?

Definitely. On the one hand, I'm disappointed to have only finished sixth, because I know our car was much better than that on Sunday. But, on the other hand, I'm really encouraged by what we achieved in just a couple of weeks and to be here now feeling disappointed about sixth place, despite having a drive-through, tells you a lot about just how pleased we are with our current state of progress.

Your race was certainly compromised by that penalty but, apart from that, your performance was incredibly solid...

I still feel like I had a good race. Like you say, I lost around 25 seconds through the penalty, but at no point did the car ever feel anything less than totally planted underneath me. That’s the most encouraging thing.

At the start of the race, I was stuck behind Massa and, even when I was in the tow, I could still pretty much keep the car right up behind him. Our car just felt incredibly strong through the corners. He was moving about a bit trying to keep me behind on the whole he did a good job of defending, but it got a bit frustrating because it was pretty clear that I was faster than him.

And, at the end of the race, it was also encouraging that we could also pretty much match the pace of the three-stoppers, who had fresher tyres.

Like I said, it was frustrating to be stuck behind them, rather than ahead of them, but we can clearly see the potential is there to get some more good results in the next few races.


You said on Sunday that the upgrade package 'over-delivered' - can you explain what you meant by that?

Yeah, we brought along the new exhausts, obviously - which are a lot simpler than the original exhausts we were trying during testing - and we also had a revised floor and a front wing, which helps balance up all the aero elements across the flow of the whole car.

So, individually, those elements bring a certain amount of performance, which we reckoned to be worth about one second. But, when you’re in the car and you’re able to 'switch on' all that performance, it's suddenly worth a lot more.

The additional downforce means you can brake later, corner faster and get on the power earlier. It also gives you that extra confidence to push the car a little bit more. Downforce is the magic ingredient and the guys back at the factory, and the guys working at the track, really delivered it for us this weekend.

Melbourne doesn’t always give us a truly accurate read about respective pace, but did last weekend give you any indicators as to the year ahead?



Clearly, the Red Bulls are quick – Sebastian (Vettel)'s pole lap showed everyone that. But, on race pace, it would look as if we’re already a lot closer at this stage of the season than we were last year. I know you can say that Red Bull weren’t using KERS Hybrid, which puts a couple of tenths in your pocket, but I don’t think it’s as clear-cut as you might have believed on Saturday evening.

Then, we’re very definitely in the hunt. I think there's a massive amount of untapped potential in our car: Sunday was the first time we’d even completed a race distance with the car, which tells you how much there is to get out of the package.

And I think Ferrari will be very strong too. They started the weekend strongly, but it sounds like they went a little backwards on Saturday and into Sunday. But their race pace was good, so I think they’ll only be stronger at the next two races.

All in all, it's looking like a continuation of the battle between the three top teams that we saw last year, which will be great for the sport and the fans.


_{Courtesy of:  gpupdate.net}

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Hamilton explains Melbourne undertray problem
1 April 2011

Following an investigation by McLaren, Lewis Hamilton has explained the problem which beset him in last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Despite managing to finish the race second to Sebastian Vettel, the floor could be seen hanging down underneath the car.

“The team have looked into the floor failure we experienced in Melbourne,” Hamilton explained on Friday afternoon.

“It seems like the bond between the bib and the chassis was damaged, so the damage looked quite bad by the end of the race. It was good to see that the car could withstand that sort of punishment but, even so, I’m looking to give it an easier ride in Malaysia next week!

“After the pace we showed in Melbourne, I think we can have another good race in Malaysia. Albert Park is a great track, but a circuit like Sepang is where the differences between the cars will start to become clearer.”

_{Courtesy of:   gpupdate.net}