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Lewis Hamilton was protected by McLaren when quizzed over Adrian Sutil’s comments on Wednesday. Yesterday, the ex Force India driver, a long-time close friend of the 2008 World Champion, branded the Englishman a ‘coward’ for not attending his court hearing in Germany.
A recovered Casey Stoner led the way as MotoGP testing continued in Malaysia on Wednesday. The reigning World Champion had been forced to sit out with an injured shoulder 24 hours earlier, although today the Honda rider topped the timesheets from Yamaha pairing Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo plus team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
McLaren have no plans in place to manufacturer their own Formula 1 engines. That is according to Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh, who faced questions over the scenario as the team launched its new MP4-27 on Wednesday morning.
2012 will mark Sam Michael’s first Formula 1 campaign as McLaren Sporting Director, having departed his role of Williams Technical Director before the end of last season. In his first three months, the Australian claims to have been impressed by the working environment.
Formula 1 team McLaren show off new MP4-27 car they hope will deliver the 2012 drivers' title.
Martin Whitmarsh admits that McLaren has set a number of ‘tough targets’ in order to clinch both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles this year – a feat the team has failed to manage since 1998. The Team Principal was speaking on Wednesday morning as the squad unveiled its new MP4-27 at the Woking Technology Centre.
McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe and director of engineering Tim Goss talk about the MP4-27
McLaren's technical director Paddy Lowe and director of engineering Tim Goss discuss the gestation of the team's newly-launched MP4-27 machine Q: After a successful 2011 season, what were your main aims with the development of the MP4-27? Paddy Lowe: Our main objectives for the 2012 season were to optimise downforce despite the changes to the blown floor
Having launched the MP4-27 on Wednesday morning along with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button has declared that the outfit need to be strong from the outset and arrive at the first race confident of doing well. Button is hopeful the Woking team have regained downforce from the loss of the blown diffuser from last season.
