Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton admit McLaren are trailing already

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton admit McLaren are trailing already

It is a deeply unpalatable thought for British race fans but McLaren’s season is already looking like it could be an uphill slog.

Sitting pretty: Lewis Hamilton started testing his new car after some of his key rivals Photo: EPA

By Tom Cary, Formula One Correspondent 7:00AM GMT 02 Mar 2011

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Such a statement might appear hasty given that the first race in Melbourne is more than three weeks away.

And with another four-day test in Barcelona next week, too, there is time yet for everything to change. A day is a long time in Formula One, let alone a week.

But make no mistake, alarm bells are ringing at McLaren’s HQ. Such is the relentless pace of development, they simply cannot afford to start the season far behind their rivals.

Listening to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at a bitterly cold Dunsfold aerodrome in Surrey, where they were taking journalists on laps of the Top Gear test track in McLaren’s new supercar, the MP4-12C, it is clear that is where they feel they are at present.

“It’s tricky because we haven’t had enough testing in the car to do proper set-up work, which is disappointing,” Button said, a comment which might be interpreted as criticism of McLaren’s launch of their 2011 challenger only after the first test in Valencia to give engineers more time to work on it.

“It’s not exactly a year when it is not complicated, what with moveable rear wings and KERS [energy devices] making a return,” Button continued. “When you are limited on parts and you have reliability issues, you don’t get the testing done, which you need to develop the car.”

Hamilton agreed. “It would be fantastic to start like Ferrari has with pace, reliability, doing hundreds of laps,” he said. “It is a lot easier for them from now on. We are behind on mileage and we can’t catch it up on testing. But with the reliability we have had over the years I’m confident we will reach our reliability target.

“The problem is it is always difficult to catch people pace-wise. In 2007 when we arrived [at the test] in Barcelona Ferrari were a tenth or two ahead and when we got to the first race in Australia they were still ahead and won it.”

McLaren started 2010 behind Red Bull and Ferrari and never managed to close the gap. Could the same thing be about to happen in 2011? For a team that has won only one drivers’ championship over the past decade, that would raise some uncomfortable questions.

Hamilton will announce his new management team before thef first grand prix of the season in Melbourne on March 26. The 26 year-old has worked without an official adviser since he dropped father Anthony as his manager a year ago. IMG and Simon Fuller are the leading contenders. “I’m really hopeful in the next week or so we will have an announcement, definitely before Australia,”he said. “It’s a big decision.”

Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone says that a decision over whether to reschedule the Bahrain Grand Prix will be made before the Melbourne race. The Bahrain event, intended for March 13, was called off due to civil unrest.

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