David Coulthard has repeatedly warned McLaren that they would have to come up with something totally new and revolutionary to close the gap with Ferrari (that was 108 pts between Coulthard and Schumi at the end of the season).
"We have a lot to do in the wintertests", Coulthard told. The new car is being postponed to give Adrian Newey, McLaren chief designer, the chance to test and design the car optimally, to make Raikkonen and Coulthard possible to win races.
After last year's Ferrari came out three races after the start of the season, this seems to become a tendency, now with both McLaren and Ferrari (again) postponing their new contender.