13/12/2014
NEWS STORY
McLaren has revealed that its 2015 contender, the MP4-30, has passed all the FIA's mandatory crash tests.
The news, which was revealed on Twitter, came just twenty-four hours after the Woking outfit had confirmed Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button as its drivers next season, when the multi-champions rejoin forces with Honda.
Significantly, considering the MP4-29's (right) performance, the news comes in stark turnaround from last year when the car passed some of the tests but not all of them, thereby leading to speculation that the team might miss the opening pre-season test. Though this didn't prove to be the case.
The team finally confirmed that all tests had been passed successfully, just three days before the official launch.
2014 saw Ron Dennis return to the helm of the F1 team, and since he was last in charge the regulations had changed in that previously cars could take to the test track before undergoing the crash tests, and it was only once the real racing began that it was mandatory to have passed all the relevant trials.
With one of the strongest driver pairings, not to mention the return of Honda, McLaren will be seeking to take a major step forward this season, having finished a distant fifth in this year’s standings and under pressure from Force India.
This news bodes well.