McLaren Hoping Upgrades for Spain Will Be Key to Success

The big news out of McLarenMcLarenUnited Kingdom, 1963 > present92 models
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last week is that its upgrade package for the MP4-28McLaren MP4-28United Kingdom, 2013 > 20136 photos
would be enough to put it into contention to race at the top of the grid, and while it appears to have been some improvement, it was not as much as the team wanted. Now the news from McLaren is that the upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix in Catalunya will finally put it where it should be. 

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has gone so far to say that the upgrades disappointed the team.

"I am not delighted. I cannot be delighted. To be honest, I am disappointed about it.

"An enormous amount of work went into some modifications which were a bit on the fly, a bit of a try here, and I think we made a bit of progress but not as much as I would like," said Whitmarsh.  

According to him, the upgrade package for Spain "has to deliver something."

Looking at Jenson Button's Q2 qualifying times, he went from 0.45 seconds of the leader in Australia, to 0.927 seconds off the leader in Malaysia and finally to 0.706 seconds off the leader in China. Also, Button scored his best finish of the season in China with a fifth place. It seems that the upgrade package did something to speed up the car but not enough to put it in top contention.

For this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, that means that McLaren is just hoping to gain some points and make it to Spain. The team seems to think that its fifth place finish in China was the best it could manage. Do not expect it to be much higher in Bahrain. 

Source: Autosport