Q+A Indy Lall, Test Manager McLaren

As the Formula One Teams resume testing after the Monaco Grand Prix at Barcelona, we took the time to catch up with McLaren's Test Team Manager, Indy Lall, to discuss how testing for the MP4-21 has been progressing.

"I’ve been in the test team for 18 years, since the challenge was first given to me by Ron Dennis to build a test team as they were not common in the sport. Over the years it has progressed to being completely self-sufficient, so there is a test team and a race team and we rely only on ourselves. My role as Test Team Manager is to make everything happen; making sure people are in the right places, to make sure all the parts and equipment are to the latest spec. It is basically making sure everything is running smoothly."

"We have spent the last week at the McLaren Technology Centre preparing the two MP4-21s for the upcoming three day test at Barcelona. This included looking at the chassis, suspension and gearboxes in preparation for the test."

Y"es, from now on we shall have two MP4-21s chassis, chassis one and chassis three. We should be able to keep those two chassis for the rest of the year."

"The closest circuit to home is Silverstone, we are allowed to test there but the weather is not always kind to us, so we tend to go more to Southern Spain. This is because the weather is better and coincidently the circuits in Spain are also quite good for forth coming races. We look for a circuit that will give us a challenge for setting our cars up for the next races, also for making choices of tyres for the forthcoming events."

"It is generally very hectic at the start of the year because we have a new car and a need to learn as much as we can about it. We try to do as much as we possibly can. It is free testing pre-season, which means we are not restricted by the testing agreement, we can run as much as we like. With the in-season testing we have to follow regulations, which allow us 36 days in total. We have to be careful where we use those days and how many cars we will use. The big difference is pre-season we can do what we like and how much we like, and in-season we are restricted so we have to be more structured."

"At Team McLaren Mercedes, our test drivers are used extensively, they test everything. So any new developments are initially assessed by Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett. When we think the system is working fine then we get the race drivers to fine tune those systems. The race drivers tend to concentrate on specific developments they need for the race coming up. The test driver will test, not just for the next few weeks but parts that will be used later in the year."

"We occasionally test when it rains, but when it naturally rains you can’t quantify how much water there is on the track. With our partners Michelin, we can dampen the track to a level of wetness, so we can then pick and choose which type of wet tyres we want to use to suit the conditions. This way Michelin will learn more about developing the tyres. Obviously when you’re at a race it’s difficult to quantify how wet it is so it can never be 100% but the artificial wet testing goes someway to make a more accurate assessment."

"A shakedown should just be where cars are ready to depart for a Grand Prix and in order to make sure that everything is working accordingly we can go to our local circuit, usually Silverstone, and perform two or three laps to make sure everything is working. A test is where we would aim to do in one day up to 500-600km per car."

"We have to change our method of testing in some ways. Tyres are very important and as the regulation was new for this year we have tended to concentrate a lot on tyre testing with Michelin. We do a lot of testing on aerodynamics as the regulations in this are tough, so in that way it has changed. Also with the new engine regulations we try to cover good mileage as we work through the development programmes."

"The test team was minimal when I first started; we used to do 10-12 tests per year and 200-300km a day. We had less than 12 people on the test team whereas now we have around 70 people who travel to tests, this includes, mechanics, support crew, trainers, engineers and Mercedes-Benz high performance engines. Now we will do anything in the region of 36 tests in a year and each day of running can be up to 600km a day. It is now a fundamental part of racing because we try to learn as much as we can at tests before going to races."