Kimi Raikkonen is confident the new McLaren car will be able to challenge Ferrari’s formula-one supremacy.
McLaren launched the MP4-20 at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, hoping to avoid the mistakes that led to a terrible start to 2004.
The car is an update of the MP4-19B, which was used for the second half of 2004 and won the Belgian Grand Prix with Raikkonen at the wheel.
The track debut of the team’s 2005 challenger marks the start of an intensive five-day test session, which will see Raikkonen joined by Juan Pablo Montoya later this week.
”A lot of time, effort and work has been invested in the new car, with the engineers working more for us than ever before,” said Raikkonen.
”My first impression after these few laps is a good one; however, the work for me and my driver colleagues starts only now.”
The Finn will continue to drive MP4-20 until Thursday, when former Williams driver Montoya will take the wheel.
”From the looks of the car, it’s unbelievable,” said Montoya, who will not drive the MP4-20 until Thursday. ”I think McLaren did an amazing job with this car and we have to wait and see what really happens from now on.
”There’s a lot of work been done by Mercedes on the engine part as well. We’ve done an installation lap and didn’t have any issues. It came back in one piece.”
”Today’s unveiling is the first tangible demonstration of the team’s preparations for the 2005 season, a year that has the potential to be exciting and positive for all the teams,” McLaren Mercedes team principal Ron Dennis said. ”There is feverish work taking place across the team to achieve the best possible result for this year.”
The design of the MP4-20 has been heavily influenced by significant revisions to the technical regulations that govern formula one in four key areas: engine lifespan, limitations on tyre use, aerodynamics and race weekend format, particularly for qualifying.
”Regulation changes, to the extent we have seen ahead of the 2005 season, have had a major impact on the configuration of the entire package,” said Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of formula one team McLaren Mercedes.
Norbert Haug, vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Motor Sport, said: ”The engine’s lifespan is doubled due to a change in the regulations, which allows the engines to be replaced only after two races.
”This modification was announced extremely late, putting even bigger strain on the engine people. Additional strain was caused by the demand that performance be maintained despite the doubling of the lifespan.
”The new rules concerning the aerodynamic limitations and the use of only one set of tyres per race are no less challenging.
”With the West McLaren Mercedes MP4-20 we hope to have created a powerful package of chassis, engine and tyres, which will enable us to resume the performance and results which our team scored in the second half of the year and particularly in the final third of the season with last year’s MP4-19B.”
Whitmarsh said the testing at Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona will continue until the cars leave for Australia on February 23. — Sapa-AFP