Martin and the team want to win every race, getting 1-2’s wouldn’t be bad either. The team suffering no apparent reliability problems, which leaves the team ever confident before the Spanish grand prix at Barcelona, where McLaren were very fast over the winter testing sessions.

“Within the McLaren Mercedes team the targets are clear,” explained McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh. “We will improve the car prior to the Spanish Grand Prix and we hope that it is enough to win that race, which is obviously very important to Fernando. I think we have a clear target to win every race and Championship we compete in. We don’t spend time dwelling on what to expect, we really focus on what we are trying to achieve.”

“As always all Formula 1 teams see aerodynamic performance as a differentiator, and consequentially I am sure we will see new aero features and aspects of all of the cars when they arrive in Spain, including our own,” Whitmarsh continued. “Whilst that is going on, all the teams are able to secretly develop suspension and mechanicals that are better concealed and consequentially less talked about. We have conducted an analysis of our first three races, we have recognised that in Malaysia we had a strong package. Frankly in Bahrain, where there was heavy braking into relatively slow speed corners following straights, we were less strong.

Whilst not being visually differentiating, we will undergo a lot of development work as we seek to make the car stronger. In reality every single car will have a range of strengths and weaknesses, and it is for each team to determine where is can best deploy its engineering efforts.”

“Monaco follows and is an unusual race, perhaps not indicative of the form throughout the season to the extent that Spain is but it is a prestigious event that both of our drivers enjoy and have been successful at. Winning Monaco is one of the favourite pastimes of McLaren drivers over the years with 13 wins on the streets of Monte Carlo. It is a Grand Prix that slipped through our fingers last year, and we hope that this year we can put that right. Fernando has proven how good he can be in Monaco. It is also a circuit that Lewis has won at in F3 and GP2 in very dominant fashion, so he has got formed greater credentials there than some of the other circuits.”

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