McLaren is optimistic about their next years’ performance. The team is positive about 2019, which is an “important year” to recover for last year failures.
The team is motivated to bring the competitiveness to its platform after the worst season of its history.
Zak Brown, Chief Executive of McLaren, said: “There is a lot of cautious optimism but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.
“We’ve done that before and we’re not going to make the same mistake twice.”
McLaren had remained one of the top-notch teams at F1 grid. The team has dominated F1 through its career with twelve crowns of driver championship titles and eight titles of constructors’ championships between 1974 and 2008. Last race that the team manage to win was in 2012.
However, a more challenging season was expected in 2018 from the team with Fernando Alonso onboard, but team found itself among the lowest performing teams.
The team sought to resolve non-competitiveness of the car, which led to major restructuring of the team. Major restructuring brought new faces on the team, but it also forced the team to clear few senior positions.
“Development is going well. We’re kind of on-track with what we are wanting to achieve,” said Brown.
“We have no idea where the competition is other than speculation. I don’t think we will know until we get to [pre-season testing in February in] Barcelona but we are pleased with the progress we have made.
“We have done things differently. Everyone is working well together so it feels like a more quiet confidence but we’re on our toes. we know this is an important year for us to show progress and that comes with some exciting nervous energy.
“We know we are not going to get there overnight. It is going to feel good before it looks good, because there is a lag in what we do today doesn’t hit the track tomorrow.”
Will the Renault engine improve?
Brown was also positive about its engine provider Renault.
Renault had failed to perform competitively to Mercedes and Ferrari engines. But Brown thinks it has improved.
“They are telling us that they are very pleased with their winter progress,” he said. “That they have found a lot of kilowatts, and think that they will be in the ballpark.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to quote the numbers they have given us but they feel they are going to be very competitive next year.”
