McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale says the team expect Ferrari and Mercedes to be a threat in the coming races.
Speaking in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes media call Neale said: “We’re not for one minute thinking that we’ve seen the best of Ferrari or Mercedes at this stage.
“We watched each other carefully through winter testing and I’m absolutely sure both of those teams have more to bring.”
Neale said the move to a more typical circuit this weekend could change the picture of how competitive the teams are:
“When you get to a circuit like Malaysia, with much hotter track temperatures, and circuits like Barcelona, they test the cars much more fully.”
Neale would not be drawn on whether McLaren would try to run the radical exhaust system which they tested and abandoned before the start of the season. But he said the team still had progress to make with the MP4-26:
“Not until we’re on front row I wouldn’t say so. We don’t think that we necessarily had the quickest car out there – evidently we didn’t. And we’re working very hard over the next few races to make sure Lewis and Jenson can get on the front row in qualifying.
“I think there’s still a reasonable amount of work to do. There are some areas of the car that we’re satisfied with but, clearly, at this stage it’s all about how do we exploit the tyres, how do we get the downforce on the car?”
He added the team hoped to avoid a repeat of their mistake last year where both cars qualified near the back of the grid after they were caught out by a rain storm:
“I think rain, probably, is the honest answer to that. If you remember last year we and Ferrari found ourselves around P22 and P23 which is very uncomfortable for a Saturday evening.
“We’re going to be in a climate where there is a high possibility of rain.
“I think with a wet race this early on it will be interesting to see how the Pirelli tyres work in the rain. We’ve had some experience with torrential rain in Barcelona during the winter testing but we haven’t done much running on the intermediates yet. But that’s the same for everybody.”
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
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RIISE (@riise)
5th April 2011, 15:13
So what are McLaren doing for Sepang in terms of the car? Are they opting to run the same exhaust system as AUS or finding a new configuration to try and make the original setup work?
As for Mercedes they shouldn’t do any worse pace wise as the 1st race. I would expect them challenging for a podium. It is hard to tell, you can’t forget about Renault either.
BasCB (@bascb)
5th April 2011, 15:40
First of all they are going to anticipate rain, so as not to be left out like they were last year :-D
And I guess they will bring the package from AUS with the diffusor in carbon fibre instead of titanium + something new to test.
Last Pope Eye
6th April 2011, 5:37
Nice to see Lewis can catch up with Vettel. I’m looking forward for mercedes too. :)
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
5th April 2011, 19:59
I would expect Mercedes and Renault up there yeah.
Last Pope Eye
6th April 2011, 6:05
I hope McLaren can fight for a win. If not??? German Finger again… :(
Oliver
5th April 2011, 15:18
Funny you mentioned Mclaren was caught out by the rains last year during qualifying, because I had been trying to remember what race Mclaren had that issue.
Well I hope this year common sense will prevail and an old fashioned hand sticking out will be a more trusted method of estimating track conditions rather than relying on those high tech gadgets.
Regarding Mclaren’s position in the pecking order, Malaysia will be a more genuine indicator than was Australia.
GeeMac (@geemac)
5th April 2011, 16:04
You can take the “we expect to be fighting with Ferrari and Mercedes” line two ways. First they either expect to be fighting Ferrari and Mercedes for second, assuming that Renault will be behind all three or they expect to be fighting Ferrari and Mercedes for third, assuming that Renault will be ahead of all three of them.
Either way one thing is clear…none of them have a hope in hell of catching Red Bull (assuming nothing weird happens).
2Ugandan Discussions
5th April 2011, 17:02
Either way one thing is clear…none of them have a hope in hell of catching Red Bull (assuming nothing weird happens).
Journeyer
5th April 2011, 17:14
Well, it’s all relative. One team can easily dominate a whole season. See McLaren 1988 and Ferrari 2002/2004.
Patrickl
5th April 2011, 19:29
Newey has dominated 2009, 2010 and probably will 2011. It’s Red Bull and it’s drivers that let him down and allow the other teams and drivers in.
MagillaGorilla
5th April 2011, 21:28
If I remeber correctly RBR had a losing car for more than half the season to Brawn. I’ll give you 2010 but not 2009, and 2011 you may receive as well. However we must wait and see several months from now.
MinusTwo
5th April 2011, 16:56
I dont know GeeMac. I agree for Malaysia that RB is probably going to dominate, but as the season wears on, we’ll see.
I’m also interested to see the gap between the two Red Bulls. I hope Webber can make it interesting this time.
alexf1man
5th April 2011, 17:39
Last year Webber was actually on pole, before Vettel passed him from 3rd for the lead into Turn 1 where he stayed.
Dan
5th April 2011, 17:55
I expect a front row lock out for the red bulls, their car will be untouchable through the high speed corners but the straights will be their weakness.
The only doubt is how long the tyres will last with the red bulls. As we saw in Aus, Hamilton lasted two laps longer and had closed up to vettel, so could be interesting.
My prediction is a Vettel win again and ferrari will be stronger
McLarenFanJamm
6th April 2011, 12:13
I actually think Hamiltons tyres could have lasted longer in Aus than just two laps, but McLaren pitted him to cover Vettels pit stop after Button wasn’t able to hold Vettel up.
skandas (@skandas)
5th April 2011, 17:55
I m so bored of these comments from various teams and drivers between these races. Whats different here than we already know!
Baron
6th April 2011, 0:14
I agree,they do make stupid statements but only because they get bombarded with stupid questions. F1 these days feeds on 1% racing and 99% idle speculation.
Dan
5th April 2011, 17:56
I expect a front row lock out for the red bulls, their cars will be untouchable through the high speed corners but the straights will be their weakness.
The only doubt is how long the tyres will last with the red bulls. As we saw in Aus, Hamilton lasted two laps longer and had closed up to vettel, so could be interesting.
My prediction is a Vettel win again and ferrari will be stronger
Dan
5th April 2011, 17:57
no idea why it has posted twice??
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
5th April 2011, 19:59
Don’t forget to factor in the rain! Downforce will count for alot less should in chuck it down.
verstappen
5th April 2011, 18:58
Interesting he doesn’t mention Red Bull.
Out of contempt for the drinks company, or because they know they won’t come close?
Cacarella
5th April 2011, 19:03
Probably a bit of column ‘A’ and column ‘B’
Calum (@calum)
5th April 2011, 20:02
Why advertise Redbull when this is a Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes phone-in! ;)
2Ugandan Discussions
5th April 2011, 19:05
marc
5th April 2011, 21:56
I think Mclaren will be a little closer to Red Bull in Malaysia for some reason. Just a feeling…
Last Pope Eye
6th April 2011, 5:45
I hope that too. I don’t want to see that German finger always. lol
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
5th April 2011, 22:06
If Red Bull choose not to run KERS again, then it will effect them more here than it did in Australia.
Likewise, if Red Bull are harder on their tyres than McLaren, then again they will have to do more to conserve them. Over one lap I expect them to be quicker, but in terms of the race….I think it will be closer than in Australia.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
6th April 2011, 2:50
I am surprise that he didn’t say Renault, they are the underdog. Mercedes failed even to finish the race, Ferrari didn’t look to be the sharpness knife in the box. Renault seem to have made a huge step forward since 2010.I guess currently they are the biggest threat.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
6th April 2011, 8:32
Dismissing Renault is kind of a tradition I guess. And then, after couple of races later everyone sounds surprised about their pace :D
Bäremans
6th April 2011, 8:37
My dream scenario for Sunday:
– Rain. Because downforce will be less important, so RBR will lose much (if not all) of its advantage.
– KERS. If RBR doesn’t get KERS up ‘n’ running, the others will close the gap to RBR with +- 4 tenths.
So that would mean we would see an “equal” battle between the teams. Good opportunity to see where RBR really is, without being able to rely completely on Newey’s genius.
Not saying this out of contempt for RBR, but I still have a Brawn-like feeling with that team and both drivers: the only reason they are up there, is because Newey got something special on the car that gives them an advantage. So all their achievements have this “yes, but” feeling to it. Would be great for them to prove to the world that without their current advantage, they can win races on team/driver merit too.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th April 2011, 8:40
Well this is Formula 1 and that’s how it works.
Palle (@palle)
6th April 2011, 20:19
Well said Keith. And if FIA doesn’t keep on trying to improve the spectacle, (I’ve learned that the term “Show” isn’t used by true F1 fans any more;-)) we are at very high risk ending up with a nearly fixed pecking order and very little excitement.
In this race, many over-takings happens in the last turn, but now, where this turn is followed by the long straight, maybe the DRS will change that – if the car which was overtaken is equally fast, and only overtaken in the last corner due to a small drivers error, maybe the driver will be able to keep up on the long straight and apply the DRS and take the position back at the end of it?
If RBR isn’t using KERS on this circuit, they will perhaps get in trouble in the first corner after the start, because of the distance?