The above statement by Mercedes Motorsport Boss sound worrying for Mc Laren. Mercedes engine has played some part in causing the Mc Laren to lose the championship in 2005 and another slow start in 2006 season due to poor engine will have great effect again on the title chase again . To win the championship, playing catch up is difficult and tough for the drivers. To win, F1 team need to lead from the start of the season like Alonso in 2005 or like Mika Hakkinen in 1999. We do hope that Mercedes can work the engine ready for the first race in Bahrain and reliability is at least the aim they need to achieve. Renault has won in 2005 where reliability and consistency played a big part in the victory.
We shall hope for the best.
Haug: ‘We are behind where we want to be’
Thursday February 16 2006Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has admitted that McLaren are lagging behind in their preparations for the 2006 F1 season.
In the first two days of this week’s Valencia test, McLaren have failed to match the front-runners, lacking either pace or reliability.
On Tuesday, the Woking team’s two drivers present failed to get within a second of the P1 time, while the following day Kimi Raikkonen showed pace but not reliability. The Finn, who was P2, suffered yet another engine failure.
And although everyone at McLaren and engine partner Mercedes is well aware of the problems, Haug fears they won’t have enough time to solve them before the season starts in March.
“Some teams are ahead of us, which we wouldn’t mind but only if we had another month to prepare,” Haug told Motorsport Aktuell magazine.
“We have not had a dream start. We are behind where we want to be.”
He added: “We are doing everything possible in order to be competitive for the first race in Bahrain.”