- 25 Mar 13, 07:15#351852
A voice of Logic... seems rare in these parts of late.
I will post a little more in the GP thread, but, I was at the race and you learn a lot more being there than you ever can from TV. One thing is abundantly clear - the McLaren definitely has race pace.
There are 2 key factors:-
1) Melb is not a good yardstick, but Malaysia is and, although McLaren never really had a chance due to crazy Q and poor track position the car was definitely fast, and by that I mean it had the pace and stability on track of the lead cars.
2) Going to the 1st GP with an all new front suspension with nothing to reference it from (ie last years data) meant they were never going to get enough track time in the practice session to learn how to setup and use the pull-rod front suspension. We saw exactly this from Ferrari last year. Like Ferrari last year, McLaren have a bright side to all this - they have a very big upside in terms of additional performance they can garner from the car.
On the topic, having seen the car on track, I wouldn't write McLaren off from any position this year.
A voice of Logic... seems rare in these parts of late.
