McLaren"s Whitmarsh: "MP4-24 Not Fast Enough"

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh has openly admitted the MP4-24 is not as competitive as the team was hoping it would be at this point of the pre-season.

The team has failed to be close to the top of the timesheets in testing, with both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen failing to make an impression, leading to suggestions that the team had problems with the car.

On Friday, Whitmarsh confirmed that was the case, admitting the team has found a performance shortfall that it is working hard to rectify.

"Initial testing of MP4-24, which first ran with an interim aero package, went in accordance with our early developmental expectations," said Whitmarsh.

"This week the car has run in Barcelona with an updated aero package, as we had always planned it would, and a performance shortfall has been identified that we are now working hard to resolve."

When asked if the car was fast enough at the moment, he added: "Not at the moment - and certainly not by our team's extremely high standards.

"But Lewis is the reigning world champion, and he became world champion in one of our cars.

"So anything less than success at that level is naturally regarded as unsatisfactory by us, by our partners, by the media and by the fans. Having said that, McLaren has started 648 grands prix. We have won 162 of them and have recorded 431 podium finishes.

"We are proud of our record and have faith in our engineers' ability to work hard to get MP4-24 into a position to add to that record. They are already engaged in doing exactly that."

Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug said the problems will need time before they are solved.

"We are definitely not where we want to be. We will continue our test programme next week at Jerez for another four days. But it will take time to improve," Haug said.

Whitmarsh, however, said the team will be working flat out to rectify the situation and he is convinced the problems are fixable.

"It is a combination of factors," said Whitmarsh of the car's problems. "Our Mercedes-Benz engine is strong - we saw that last year - so MP4-24's performance shortfall is clearly chassis-centric.

"Inevitably, in 21st-century Formula 1, it is a car's aero aspect that confers the greatest pluses and minuses to its overall performance package, and that would appear to be the case with MP4-24. But Formula 1 engineers can do great things when the pressure is on.

"Speaking to them today, I was struck by their resolute determination to address MP4-24's issues in record time. In fact, it is that kind of resolute determination, coupled with expertise and experience of ultra-high technology and the ability to work accurately and quickly under pressure, that makes Formula 1 the great sport and the tremendous engineering challenge it is."

He added: "Many times in Formula 1 history have successful teams started off with a car that was not working as well as they had hoped it would, and many times have those successful teams engineered their way back to the front of the grid in impressively short order. That is what we aim to do. In fact, that is what we are already doing."

 

Not as fast without the ferrari info and i'm glad to see it. Can't stand mclaren. Wonder how loyal Hamilton will be if they have a couple of well deserved bad seasons? Last i heard of him he said he's there for life!

 

Not trying to be a spammer, but since I discussed it already here:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=138488791&postcount=49

 

Mclaren was found only to be in possesion of the data and not using it on their cars after being inspected, atleast that was what we were told.

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Why not and this is coming from a tried and true Ferrari supporter. After all McLaren is one of the greatest teams in F1 history so does that not earn atleast alittle respect?

Hey MS had a few off years with Ferrari but he believed in his team and was well aware that those kind of seasons happen to even the great teams.

 

Repost, this should be blended Andreas.

 

In the immortal words of Phil Hartman "Yes you are correct sir"!!!!!

 

Actually, this thread was posted first. But, who cares.

 

I hear ya as I constantly forget to check the date/time a thread was started when I need to merge one.

 

Looks's like Mclaren have found some pace...Ahem I did say they would!!

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/03/18/mclaren-pace-improves-significantly-at-jerez/

 

You did and I believe I've been saying the same thing. Ahh.... What do they say about great minds?

 

What am I missing; 2 teams testing here just before the start of the season ?

Is the final script already approved ?

 

Kudo's all round Charles...

 

Nakajima set the fastest time at Jerez so maybe he'll win the WDC...

 

Right. With two cars running, the other being Heikki in the lame McLaren.

 

His time was four tenth's quicker than the fastest time the Brawn had laid down. Another point to take note is that the McLaren was only about a tenth off of that time. Australia should be interesting.

 

Exactly.

 

McLaren is probably sandbagging, Brawn appears to be doing well,
and McLaren is going to lag behind? I don't think so.

 

For what it's worth (Bernie I want medals) think's Mclaren are sandbagging..

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=37269

 

I think everyone is holding back save for Brawn who are in need of sponsors...we will see what's what in less than a week ..

 

Can anyone tell me how sandbagging works? Seriously. Do they use sector times?

 

Not sure about using sector times, just a general average observation over a testing period.

IMO Sandbagging is when a team or driver deliberately conceals the full pace that they have, leading to slower lap times, it's done to mislead onlookers and rival teams about the true pace of the car or driver.

So while it maybe genuine that a car is slower than the rest, there is always some doubt.

 

In the old days Williams measured the 2nd half of the first lap and the first half of the second lap and got their times.

But I think it is actually a lot easier: Just add some extra weight to your car. They have a good understanding on how much added weight costs in time so you can be permanently 2 seconds slower than anybody else and still feel good.