After the high of last year it looks like its going to be a bumpy ride for the Brit team McLaren and their all Brit duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. After the recent rounds of testing completed , both drivers seemed skeptical of their car’s performance and acknowledged that the car needed to improve for them to have a chance in the championship.

Jenson Button was not happy about the setup work due to the short testing period that teams are getting. He commented that the improvement done to the car till now wont be enough once the formula one season starts.

“It’s tricky because we haven’t had enough testing in the car to do proper set-up work which is disappointing. It’s been bitty in testing. We have improved it but not enough.

“The next test is really important to us to see what this car can do and hopefully we will be ready for the first race. If we went racing now we wouldn’t be quite ready because we have not done enough testing.”

Lewis Hamilton was also disappointed about the small testing windows and the fact that McLaren is playing catch up to its rivals in testing.

“One day we did only 38 laps. That’s nothing major but we have had mechanical issues at the back of the car and that has really hampered us. In the last test we got 170 laps so we have picked up but we are behind on mileage and we can’t catch it up on the testing left. But hopefully it will not hinder us too much.”

In other news the Bahrain Grand Prix though cancelled due to democracy protests in the country and subsequent bloodshed could be back in the 2011 season itself at a later date. Keep reading for more. In an interview, Bernie Ecclestone said :

“I’m hoping upon hope that things settle peacefully in Bahrain and we can find a slot later on in the year,” said Ecclestone.

“I don’t know how likely there will be peace, but if there is then we will find a way.

“We will have a look and see what we can do, how we can swap things around a bit. Maybe we can change it with Brazil, or something like that.

“But forget August. It’s too hot for the public to sit in the grandstand at 40-odd degrees .”

Image : McLaren Media

The Bahrain Grand Prix was meant to be the grand opening F1 race to the 2011 formula one season.However pro democracy protests (much less publicized than those of Egypt) seem to be set to derail the 2011 season opener.

The unrest finally reached F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Ecclestone has put the ball in the Crown Prince’s court saying that his decision would be final on the Bahrain Grand Prix

‘I haven’t spoken to the Crown Prince this morning so I don’t know what’s happened there. If anybody’s going to sort it out he’s the guy to do it. ‘He would decide whether or not it’s safe for us to be there.

‘Let’s wait until Tuesday and see if this one’s going to take place before we decide what to do. Maybe we could postpone Bahrain or run it later in the year.’

Meanwhile noises became more and more clear that all the F1 teams are in unison against the Bahrain Grand Prix going through. Apparent safety concerns have made the teams wary of coming to Bahrain. Mercedes’s Norbert Haug was quoted as saying: ‘The safety of our employees is more important than anything else’

Mark Webber was more vocal about the situation commenting on the loss of lives in the protests :

“When you hear of people losing their lives, this is a tragedy.

“It’s probably not the best time to go there for a sporting event. They have bigger things, bigger priorities.”  Mark Webber said

Photo : Soman, under CC Attribution/Share Alike 2.5

McLaren today released their 2011 formula one challenger at Berlin, the MP4-26. The car was revealed in a unique style with McLaren fans assembling the chassis of the car.

The team has great expectations from the car. The MP4-26 features a new KERS system which is supposed to recycle the energy from braking for boost purposes.

The car also has the much talked about adjustable rear-wing system which was criticised by Ferrari drivers earlier this year for making the sport too complicated. The U-shape side pods for more air intake into the rear end of the car are also prominent on the car.

The McLaren team continues with the all Brit pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Martin Whitmarsh was pretty optimistic at the launch of the new challenger.

“I’m hopeful that Formula 1 stands poised on the cusp of an incredible new era.

“With Lewis and Jenson, we have two of the most exciting, charismatic and high-profile personalities in the sport, and the whole team feels a powerful sense of responsibility to provide them with the very best machinery with which to showcase their very evident talents to the world.

“The MP4-26 is the result of an incredible amount of hard work, innovative thinking and dynamic teamwork. Under the leadership of Paddy Lowe [technical director], Tim Goss [director of engineering] and Neil Oatley [director of design and development programmes], our design department is more integrated than ever: in fact, I’m particularly proud of the contributions made by our project engineers, many of whom have taken on leadership roles for the very first time and who have worked so well together to create this very striking and individual-looking car.

“While we’re all hopeful of once more adding to our tremendous record in Formula 1, this sport is so unpredictable and finely pitched at the moment that it’s impossible accurately to forecast the state of play until the season starts next month. That’s a tantalising prospect for Formula 1’s many millions of existing fans – and, I hope, something that will attract many millions more by the end of what looks set to be an absolutely fantastic year.”

Fernando Alonso is not to thrilled with the uncertainty that’s being thrown into the 2011 season with so many new things to look out for. With new tyres , new wings, new tracks comes along a new type of uncertainty and fears that F1 may never be the same. Press release from Ferrari follows :

In his first press conference of the year, Fernando Alonso also talked about the new technical and rule changes that will affect the 2011 cars.

“They will certainly be more complex to handle on the part of the driver because we will have more operations to carry out,” explained the Spaniard. “There will be the return of KERS and the new adjustable rear wing, even if the front wing won’t be adjustable any more. You will need to find the way to adapt and find the right mechanisms for the buttons to avoid losing the correct concentration for driving. The simulator gives us a big hand with that, allowing us to do intensive training on this aspect.

“Will these changes help overtaking? I hope so. For years changes to the regulations have been brought in with this objective but they haven’t always worked. We’re crossing our fingers but I think that between KERS and the adjustable rear wing there will be enough difference in speed to be able to overtake a car you’re fighting. These changes have been brought in after meticulous work on the part of the Technical Working Group and I believe they will work. Will we have to be more aggressive? It depends on the situation: if you just need a place to win the title then there’s no need.”
Another change will be the Pirelli tyres that Fernando has already tested for two days in Abu Dhabi last November. “The first feeling is positive,” says Fernando. “But we will know more at the next tests, those will be very interesting. I will certainly have to change my driving style a bit. The unknown remains the wet tyres, that we haven’t yet had a chance to try.”

In 2009 the introduction of KERS pushed many drivers into a hard winter and slimming routines. But this year the minimum weight of the car has been increased to 640kg, meaning the weight of the driver is not so crucial for the effective use of ballast. “I haven’t lost much weight yet, partly because last week I had to interrupt my training because of a small muscle contraction in my leg,” explains Fernando. “For the start of the championship perhaps you will see more of a weight difference. This year we will have to pay even more attention to physical and mental preparation because of the calendar. For example we will have trips that are physically demanding such as Australia-Malaysia-China, with the last two races on successive weekends. If you arrive in Malaysia at 80% one week later you risk being at 50%.”

On the issue that the new rules could make the result of qualifying less important for the result of the race, Fernando was very cautious. “It’s possible, because overtaking should be less difficult. But qualifying, the start and the first corner will remain decisive moments. But it’s too early to make a real prediction: we will have to see how things go in the first races to have a more precise idea.”

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