McLaren head to Australia eager to learn about their car and rivals as the 2020 season begins.
The British team head into another year looking to repeat their impressive form from last year which saw them comfortably finish fourth in the Constructors’ standings, their best result since 2014.
Midfield competition is looking strong though with the likes of Renault and Racing Point making ground, so team boss Andreas Seidl knows a good start is imperative.
“Following a successful pre-season testing, we feel prepared for the challenge of 2020 but conscious of where we need to focus,” said the German.
“The Australian Grand Prix is where we first see how competitive all the teams are without the usual caveats of testing, so there is plenty to learn.
“We aim to hit the ground running at Albert Park and set ourselves up well for the rest of the season.
“Building our understanding of the MCL35 early in the year is crucial to our positive development.”
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As the midfield teams in particular face a tougher task in managing resources to prepare for 2021, however, technical director James Key revealed upgrades will be more specific and earlier than usual.
“We need to be quite targeted,” he told Crash.net in Barcelona.
“And with 2021 there’s a balancing act to be struck for everyone, but there is quite a bit of potential in it and we have a whole round of bits coming in the opening races because of that.”
“I think we have got some issues to solve to be honest, it’s not a Mercedes-beater quite yet,” Key added,
“We’ve already got new areas we’re looking at which they are beyond the new bits we introduced this week. There’s still quite a bit to come and quite a bit of potential.”