McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe has admitted that the Woking-based team’s pre-season was the worst he has endured in his 20-years with the outfit.
McLaren looked to be in trouble after they launched their car late, missing the first test, instead running last years MP4-25.
Once the 2011 car hit the track, things didn’t go well. Unreliability and poor pace plagued the team with a very advanced exhaust system at the root of the problems.
A decision to drop it proved vital, turning their fortunes round. The pre-season could be compared to 2009 when their car was well off the pace. It took several races for them to catch-up, finally ending the season with the fastest car on the grid.
Lowe admitted this year had been even more worrying than 2009.
“This was even worse [than 2009], because the problem then was merely performance,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“At the final [Barcelona] test [in 2011] the new items didn’t work and the car was unreliable [too].”
A cloud of doubt was lifted when the car hit the track in Australia for the first competitive session, revealed Lowe.
“After the first practice session in Australia I was hugely relieved,” he added.
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