In a similar vein, team principal Andrea Stella told The Race about McLaren’s plan for Barcelona.
Simply put, the reigning Champions have calculated that beginning testing with an advanced specification is worth the risk. Assuming there are no nasty surprises, the papaya squad want to be aggressive in developing new parts.
By getting up to speed quickly with the MCL40 in a relatively sophisticated form, McLaren want to get a head start on their more tentative adversaries.
This is why McLaren are bringing what can be described as their Melbourne spec car to the first tests. Unlike others, Stella’s squad wants to start developing from the most complex and – potentially – rewarding point possible.
Andrea Stella on the McLaren philosophy
Stella spoke about his team’s approach in the build-up to next week’s tests:
“We plan to start testing either in day two or day three. So we will not be testing on day one, we wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible for development…
“Because every day of development, every day of design, was adding a little bit of performance. If you are early on track, you have the reassurance of knowing what you need to know as soon as possible.
“But at the same time, it means you might have committed to the design and realisation of the car relatively early. So you will have compromised against development time, and ultimate performance.
“Obviously, there will be updates pretty much for every car between testing and the first race. But we thought that, in the economy of a season, it was important to start and launch the car in the most competitive package and configuration.
“That’s why we pushed all the timing to the limit, but within a very manageable limit. We didn’t feel any urge to plan for testing on day one.”
