F1: R&D rate the key to title, claims McLaren.

[Rory Phoulorie]

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh has claimed that the destiny of this year's Formula One world title could be decided 'back at base' as much as it is on track, despite the Woking team going head-to-head with Ferrari over the first three races.

Speaking to McLaren's official website, Whitmarsh claimed that the rate at which improvements could be made the team's respective cars could have a major impact on the outcome of the four-way battle at the top of the drivers' championship, with the two heavyweight teams seemingly evenly-matched in the early stages of the year.

"Coming away from the first three grands prix, there is generally a positive feeling throughout the whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team and I think that is important [as] it lays the foundations for a real championship assault throughout the season," he said, "The results so far demonstrate that we have a reasonably competitive car, [but] it is now very clear that this year's championships will be as much decided in the race to develop the car as the racing that occurs on Sunday afternoons.

"We are now in the middle of a relatively large and unprecedented gap in F1 racing, with a four-week interval [and], during this time, we are testing at the Barcelona circuit where the next race will be held. We would therefore target the largest incremental improvement in car performance from one race to another. This will not just be within McLaren, but within all of the teams. As a result, the whole organisation is working extremely hard to ensure that we make as big, if not bigger, incremental improvement to the lap time performance versus any of our competitors.

"All F1 teams see aerodynamic performance as a differentiator, and I am sure we will see new aero features and aspects of all of the cars when they arrive in Spain, including our own. Whilst that is going on, all the teams are able to secretly develop suspension and mechanicals that are better concealed and, consequentially, less talked about.

"The drivers are visiting the McLaren Technology Centre, we are conducting a series of development reviews, working in the simulator, and generally pushing extremely hard to ensure that, at the Barcelona test next week, we have a whole range of new componentry available for the MP4-22 - and, then, looking further ahead at the race itself, optimising performance of these developments.

Despite his insistence that the campaign will be an R&D battle to see of Ferrari and, possibly, BMW, Whitmarsh concedes that the team has been impressed with the early showings of all-new driver pairing Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

"Fernando's performance is inevitably judged on what has happened on the three Sunday afternoons we have had so far this season, which sees him as joint leader of the drivers' championship," he noted, "But the reality is that his performance from a team perspective is also judged by how he contributes to the team, how he contributes to the technical development of the car, how he helps focus and motivate the organisation. He has been tremendously focused on working with the team and helping us to make improvements in what we do.

"Lewis, by any standards, has had a terrific start to the season and a great beginning to his F1 career. For us, it is not perhaps as surprising as it might be to others. We've worked with Lewis for eleven years and we set out to ensure that he arrived in F1, not only in a competitive organisation, but also as prepared as possible. But, in reality, the primary credit for what has occurred lies with Lewis, who has been very dedicated, focused and calm in the way in which he has approached his debut."


http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~1~id~147178.htm

[Rory Phoulorie]

Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?