ringo wrote:from autosport:
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is adamant his team has the capacity to "surprise a few people" at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix despite its difficult winter testing.
Whitmarsh, whose team was unable to cover as much mileage as it wanted during the winter, conceded McLaren is not arriving as favourites to win in Melbourne.
But he insisted the Woking-based squad cannot be written off.
"It's called testing for a reason - and testing MP4-26 beyond its limit has, in some ways, been highly instructive," said Whitmarsh in a team preview.
"In actual fact, we've gathered a huge amount of useful data about the car, its handling characteristics and its management of the tyres. So while we've further fine-tuned the package for Melbourne, we've once again set ourselves some extremely tough targets for this opening race weekend.
"So, do I think our testing pace is representative of the pace we'll show in Australia? No. Do I think we head into the weekend as race favourites? Unfortunately, no. But do I feel that we have the capacity to surprise a few people and be competitive? Very much so."
did they solve something?
I suspect he's keeping sponsors sweet. That said, I trust Martin Whitmarsh a lot more with his statements than I did with Uncle Ron, so perhaps there is something in it.
Perhaps indeed, that clarification on the rules wasn't a death knell for McLaren at all. Up until now, all of the information about their car has come from other sources and as such should be treated as professional willy waving.
Yer.