McLaren test driver Gary Paffett knows the team must hit the ground running in 2012 if they are to end two years of Red Bull domination.
Test driver says McLaren must hit the ground running
McLaren test driver Gary Paffett knows the team must hit the ground running in 2012 if they are to end two years of Red Bull domination.
The British squad found themselves two seconds off the pace in 2011 pre-season testing after having problems with their exhaust design.
And in a sport where a tenth of a second is a lifetime, McLaren don't want to be playing catch-up when their 2012 car hits the track in Jerez on February 7.
Paffett told
Sky Sports: "It's incredibly important to hit the ground running.
"Last year we went for an innovative design for the exhaust and although all our simulations and everything said it was going to work, it didn't really work out and we struggled a lot.
"We managed to change it pretty quickly and we have an incredible ability at McLaren to react to things and do get ourselves on the pace.
"But we really need to start strongly and get in front because last year we were playing catch up for the whole year really.
"We're aiming to start at least as quick as Red Bull, maybe just in front and take it from there because I think to challenge for the championship we need to be challenging for race wins from the start."
Quick recovery
With no in-season testing allowed, McLaren's quick recovery in 2011 was all the more impressive with Lewis Hamilton finishing second at the season opener in Australia.
Paffett added: "It's very difficult (with no on track testing). I think we actually pulled an incredible result out in Melbourne, firstly to actually get the amount of speed out of the car that we did and secondly to get both cars to the end of the race because it was the first time we had run the new exhaust system.
"So it was difficult and we really need to be more consistent in testing and make sure we can actually start the first race with a bit more confidence than we did last year.
"It's difficult because over the winter development you have no idea where you are and it's not until the first test that you get to see how much work you've got to do.
"But certainly over the winter you try as hard as you can to build a quick car and obviously last year it didn't quite work."
Innovation
2012 sees the re-introduction of in-season testing with one three-day test scheduled for May 1st-3rd in Italy and Paffett thinks it will mean we see more innovation.
"I think it will make a big difference to the updates we bring," he said.
"There are the flyaway races (Australia, Malaysia China and Bahrain) and then we have the Mugello test which is before the Europeans and is normally around the time that you bring a fair size update package for the European season, so it will be good to get a feel for the car with the new parts.
"In the past having the four tests so close together doesn't really help us because you haven't got time to develop parts or get parts out, so it's good to have them a little bit spread out and actually bring some new parts and try them out at a test rather than taking them all to a race and testing them there."
Whilst Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have the glamorous role of race driver, the role of a test driver has become more important in developing the car since testing restrictions were introduced.
Sophisticated
Paffett will spend around 60 full days this season in the simulator at McLaren's Woking factory helping to develop the MP4-27.
"Without much circuit testing now we use the simulator a lot back in Woking. We develop the cars, develop setups for the cars, setups for each individual circuit and do any testing that we need to do.
"It's replaced circuit testing to a certain extent and even in the simulator we are free of any rules and regulations so we can try anything we like to see if it works then make it into something that will fit on the car, so it's an incredible way of testing.
"It's an incredibly sophisticated simulator, there are a lot of simulators out there, but defiantly the one we have at McLaren is very advanced and we certainly use it as an incredible development tool."
