Martin Whitmarsh has warned rivals to expect an “innovative” MP4-26 and a “fired-up” McLaren, determined to win this year’s World titles.
McLaren lost out to Red Bull Racing last season and had to settle for second in the constructors’ championship while Lewis Hamilton was their best-placed driver in fourth place, 16 points off the pace.
Hamilton was at least involved in the title fight until the very end in Abu Dhabi, a race that saw four drivers challenging for the world title, while his team-mate Jenson Button dropped out of the race in Brazil.
This year, though, Whitmarsh is determined to bring the crowns back to Woking, insisting that McLaren’s late launch, which will take place after the opening pre-season test, is the right move.
“I think F1’s 2010 season was fantastic for the sport and fantastic for the fans,” the McLaren team boss told crash.net
“Inevitably, if you don’t win the world championship and you’re McLaren, you’re going to be disappointed – but overall, I think it was a great, great championship. I’m sorry that we didn’t win it, but we’re going to be focused on trying to put that right in 2011.
“The truth is, we’re always pretty fired-up. We’ve got an incredible team of people who are very, very motivated; they’re working hard and we go into every year seeking to win and hoping that we’re going to win. The car is in car-build at the moment.
“It’s always hard-pushed for everyone, but it looks good to me, it looks innovative, I think there are some interesting features on it and I’m sure there’s going to be lots of discussion about it – but I suspect others will be working just as hard as we are.
“You can never be confident. We took the decision (to launch late) probably six months ago; we thought it was right then, and I don’t have any reason yet to believe that it was wrong.
“We feel that for us, giving our aerodynamicists and our engineers the maximum amount of time to find performance and develop the car was the right thing to do.”
The Englishman reiterated his belief that with Hamilton and Button behind the wheel, McLaren have the strongest line-up on the grid.
“I think the fact that they’re World Champions just shows how good they are and the class that they have.
“I think the fact that we have two great drivers clearly makes us a stronger team. I’m very happy with our driver line-up. I think we’ve got the best driver pairing in F1, and that’s good when you’re going into a Championship trying to win it.”
However, he expects a strong challenge to come from reigning World Champions, Red Bull, 2009 Champs, Mercedes GP, and McLaren’s traditional rivals, Ferrari.
“F1 has always been tough. Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be tough to beat and I think Mercedes as well – I’m sure they’re going to be stronger this year than they were last year.
“We’re at the pinnacle of motorsport and it’s meant to be difficult – if it was easy to win, then it wouldn’t be as enjoyable when you do. The competition is very tough these days.
“(Renault) have had a difficult time, and on paper I think they’re not in the top four teams, but I don’t wish to insult them because I think they’ve got some very good people and you can’t underestimate them – or any of the teams. They can have that ‘Eureka!’ moment; they can spring forward and make us all look foolish.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve got to try to beat all of the teams, but you’ve got to assess who you think the primary competition will be. Clearly, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes you would expect to be the toughest to beat this year – but we’re going to do our best.”
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