McLaren have admitted that reverting to last years car, the MP4-27, is an option, but at present they won’t give up on developing the current car into a race winner.
The 2012 chassis started and ended the season as the quickest car having won the Australian and Brazilian Grands Prix. However, and despite stable regulations, McLaren opted to start from scratch and design a totally new car for 2013.
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh is certain they can develop the MP4-28 into a winner, but he admitted reverting to the MP4-27 was a possibility – but not a decision they’d be taking anytime soon.
“It’s possible [to go back to the MP4-27] but at the moment I think the best thing for us to do is to work and understand this car,” he said.
“I think we’ve got to gather the data and I’m sure we can develop this car and the aim is to give ourselves the ability to develop this car throughout the whole year.
“That’s the thing about Formula 1 now, the season’s incredibly long, if you’re going to win races and championships you have to be able to develop the car over the course of the year and we’ve given ourselves the scope to be able to do that.”
He believes had they stuck with the MP4-27 and evolved it over the winter, similar to what their main rivals have done, they would be in better position.
“Probably if we had stuck with the original concept of last year’s car we would be stronger here today. But we made a decision, we’ll now work through this and I’m sure we have a car that has more potential than the one we had last year.”
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