Tuesday 15 April 2014

McLaren aiming to bounce back in China

(McLaren Mercedes)
 
McLaren head to this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit following a very disappointing race last time out in Bahrain which saw both Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen retire from the race.
 
The team suffered identical clutch problems with Jenson Button's and Kevin Magnussen. However they are fully confident that they have the issues sorted and will be sorted on time for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
 
At last year's race, Jenson Button finished in fifth place while Sergio Perez finished in 11th, just outside the point's.
 
McLaren are currently third in the Constructor's championship with 43 point's just one point behind Sahara Force India so they will be hoping that they will be in a position to regain second in the championship this weekend.
 
Obviously this is a new circuit for Kevin Magnussen however the Dane has shown that is an extremely talented driver. He is currently in 7th place in the Driver's championship with 20 point's, two ahead Sergio Perez, the man he replaced at McLaren.
 
Jenson Button has a good history in Shanghai having scored podium's four time's since the sport first raced in China in 2004.
 
This year marks the 10th anniversary since the Chinese Grand Prix made it's debut on can have Formula One calendar and McLaren will be hoping they a great result this weekend. Racing Director Eric Boullier had this to say about the upcoming race:
 
'It’s never easy to come away from a grand prix with two retirements, so it’ll be important to get some further points on the board in China this weekend.
 
I think there are reasons to be encouraged by our general performance: the chasing pack in Bahrain was extremely closely matched, but we were in the thick of it, and see the potential to hopefully edge clear.
 
“We’re aggressively developing MP4-29: we know we have a good baseline, but it’s a concept that requires development. We have some useful steps in the pipeline, and the key to success this year will be, firstly, the quick translation of those concepts into useful components; and, secondly, getting those steps to work successfully at the track.
 
“I think we’ve got good correlation between the windtunnel and the track, and our designers are encouraged by what’s already been brought to the track. We’ll have another little step for China, and will hopefully be bringing more key updates to every race.
 
“The Bahrain race was rightly acclaimed as a thriller, and I think we have all the ingredients in place for another exciting contest in China this weekend'.
 
©Ben Johnston 2014
 
 

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