McLaren know a win or even a podium in Monaco is unrealistic given the performance of their MP4-28, but a double points finish in the last two races has given them confidence they can do the same next weekend.
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh is hopeful they can make a small step forward, though he admits the unqiue nature of Monaco doesn’t allow for new developments to show their full potential.
“We’re not yet in a position to challenge for victories this year [but] we’ll relish the challenge provided by this race and we hope to challenge for more points with both cars,” he said of their targets.
“Our aim is to continue improving the performance of the MP4-28 in Monaco. The tight and twisty nature of the circuit makes its requirements fairly exceptional, but every kilometer that we complete with the car provides us with useful data because we have a very busy development programme.”
Jenson Button echoed his comments.
“We’re not yet where we want to be in terms of competitiveness, but I’m confident that we can make another small step forward in Monaco,” he added. “We’ll continue to chip away at the performance of the MP4-28 until it’s capable of challenging at the front; there’s no other agenda for a winning team like McLaren.
“The aim for Monaco is to get both cars home in the points, as we did in Barcelona.”
