McLaren will not take to the track on the first day of the closed preseason tests scheduled to take place in Barcelona.
According to Idman.Biz, citing the team, the decision was made in order to gain additional time to work on the new MCL40 car. McLaren plan to begin their testing programme on either the second or third day.
Explaining the team’s position, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella noted that only three of the five test days in Barcelona are available for running on track. “In Barcelona, out of the five test days, you are only allowed to run on three, so there is no real need to rush at the very earliest stage,” Stella said.
He added that, given the large number of changes made to the car, the main priority is to extend the design and development phase as much as possible. “Early testing helps you understand the car more quickly, but at the same time it means committing to design and manufacturing decisions too early,” Stella explained.
The McLaren boss stressed that the team are trying to find the right balance between development time and achieving the best possible performance during the preseason testing period.
