19/07/2012
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
McLaren will hope to return to winning ways at this weekend's German Grand Prix with a host of new parts fitted to both its cars. The English team has come under fire of late as it begins to lose ground to front runners Red Bull and Ferrari, having struggled in both the British and European Grands Prix.
Though both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have won races this year the former has progressively fallen off the pace, while the team has generally struggled to switch on the notoriously difficult Pirelli tyres. "I think for everyone - not just McLaren - trying to understand and exploit the tyres correctly is proving quite a substantial challenge," said Martin Whitmarsh in the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Phone-In.
"Formula One changes very quickly and your fortunes can change from being very, very strong in Canada - which we clearly were - to a disappointing couple of last races," he admitted.
"I think they were unusual; particularly Silverstone was an unusual weekend. Our thrust is always to keep developing the car, we've got quite a lot of new components and quite noticeable ones on the car that we will have in Germany."
Last month Sporting Director Sam Michael revealed that he team looks to bring a tenth of a second to each Grand Prix, a fact which this weekend sees the team debut a number of visibly different developments.
"The sidepods from the front to the rear are quite different, so you'll notice those," Whitmarsh explained. "There are other bits and pieces that the sharper eyes will see, and clearly there are some parts that are transparent to the naked eye. That's the main area of modifications and it's reasonably noticeable."
However for all the team's efforts the key to unlocking the McLaren's pace seems to lie with understanding the Pirelli tyres. With a narrow operating window getting the rubber working is a difficult task, but one which reaps rewards far greater than a tenth of a second.
"I think keeping ourselves focused, seeking to eliminate mistakes, improving the performance of the car, understanding the tyres and seeing if we can exploit them better are all top of our to do list."
It's a list the team needs to start making inroads on sooner rather than later, as Red Bull and Ferrari continue to draw away from the Woking squad in the Constructors' Championship. Even Lotus currently has its beating by two points, despite the fact the team has not yet won a race, as McLaren languishes 74 points off Red Bull at the head of the class. A win at this weekend's German Grand Prix would help start making up lost ground, not to mentioning easing the ever mounting media pressure on the squad.