Whitmarsh remains ‘optimistic’

Martin Whitmarsh is optimistic McLaren will return to form at the British GP but doubts that their MP4-26 will be the quickest car…

Martin Whitmarsh is optimistic McLaren will return to form at the British GP but doubts that their MP4-26 will be the quickest car.

McLaren had a disappointing Sunday afternoon in Valencia with Lewis Hamilton finishing a distant fourth to Sebastian Vettel while Jenson Button brought his car home in sixth place.

Both McLaren drivers were upset with their performance with Hamilton saying he thinks McLaren have taken “a step back”, adding that they “may really struggle again” at the next race at Silverstone.

However, Whitmarsh, who admits that the European GP was not McLaren’s best showing, says he is remaining optimistic about the team’s chances at their home race.

“There has never been a car that has had enough power and enough downforce,” he told Autosport.

“You are working all the time to do that. We were not exploiting the tyres correctly; we were struggling with traction – and that was not to do with downforce, that was tyre temperature.

“But I am an optimist. We plan to go to Silverstone with some new things; we will have new parts and possibly a new rear wing – various bits and pieces.

“Silverstone is very different to here. Anyone who stands here and say I am sure we will be back with the quickest race car would be rather foolish, but we will see how we get on.

“We’ve had a difficult afternoon, but we had three races with the quickest race car and we just did not have the quickest one here. This is not the intention and we will be working hard to develop the car to be quicker at Silverstone.”