McLaren warn against expecting big progress in China

McLaren are claiming any progress their troubled MP4-30 makes will be masked by the demands of a tough China circuit.

The Woking team, pointless and running at the back of the grid, have told fans and pundits alike not to expect any big progress from the team. Their cars propped up the grid in Australia before stand-in driver Kevin Magnussen’s car broke down on the way to the start, while Jenson Button finished 11th, out of 11 runners remaining at the end of the race.

Malaysia marked the return of driver Fernando Alonso after an accident in pre-season testing ruled him out of the Australian Grand Prix. He returned and both cars exited at the first stage of Qualifying for the second time running, only Manor’s Roberto Merhi was slower than the two McLaren drivers.

However the silver lining for the team is that after being five seconds down on leaders Mercedes in Australia, they’d cut the deficit down to just under four seconds. Both cars were running in the midfield, battling for positions until both cars were forced to retire with mechanical problems, as the reunion of McLaren Honda continues to have teething problems.

Jenson Button acknowledged the improvements despite the ignominy of a double retirement: “It’s a pity we didn’t finish the race in Malaysia. We’d made solid progress up until that point in the weekend, and it would have been a fantastic boost to get a car home in amongst some of the cars in the midfield pack.”

It’s been 24 years since McLaren went pointless in the first three races, back in 1981, but that record looks likely to be broken. Button went on to add that: “China’s two long straights – each preceded by slow-to-medium-speed corners – will place extra emphasis on the power unit. And there is a feeling that the expected cooler weather will make it harder to generate tyre temperature – which could mean that any progress we make doesn’t necessarily translate to a laptime benefit.”

With McLaren’s progress taking slow but steady steps, the Woking outfit need to make sure they aren’t taking one step forward and two steps back, as with only Manor behind them, and perennial rivals Ferrari having a sudden resurgence in winning at Malaysia, McLaren will want to avoid any embarrassment as the fallen giants continue to struggle.