McLaren's new MP4-23 is good, but not yet good enough – that is the view of the Woking-based outfit's test driver Pedro de la Rosa as the 2008 season roars rapidly into view.
Whilst most observers expect a repeat of the McLaren-
Ferrari duel for supremacy at the top of the sport as was witnessed last year, it is the machine from Maranello that has thus far displayed seemingly greater potential in winter testing, despite suffering from a number of niggling mechanical woes [see separate story –
click here]. De la Rosa is adamant that the current status quo is not something that cannot be overturned.
“Basically we have to make the car faster,” the Spaniard acknowledged in an interview with Spanish newspaper
Diario AS, “and that means a lot of work on the aerodynamic side still has to be done.
“We are very pleased with the reliability we have shown until now, so the main thing is to be faster, but that does not mean that we no longer have a very competitive car in all areas.”
The 36-year-old also insisted there was no benefit for McLaren in having developed the new standard ECU transmission to be used by all teams over the forthcoming campaign, and expressed his view that it may not only be Ferrari that
Lewis Hamilton and
Heikki Kovalainen need to watch out for this year.
“It's the same situation for everyone,” he said of the ECU. “No-one can change any parameters [of the unit], and all the other teams knew about it for some time. I do not see that we have an advantage.
“Ferrari and McLaren seem stronger and one step ahead of others, which is more-or-less how last season ended, but there are teams that have not shown all of their cards and
Renault is one of them. They are one of the teams that have the ability to make a step and come back up in the coming months.”
Asked whether his compatriot and former McLaren colleague
Fernando Alonso could challenge for the 2008 crown, de la Rosa added: “Of course he can.”
