• German Grand Prix

Whitmarsh 'under no illusions'

Martin Whitmarsh thinks progress is being made with the blown diffuser © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Teams:
• McLaren

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh says he is under 'no illusions' that the team needs to continue to improve quickly if it is to maintain pace with its biggest rivals.

McLaren finished second and fourth at the British Grand Prix but it was clear that Red Bull had the quicker car all weekend.

"We've come off an extremely successful run of recent races, but we're nonetheless under no illusions that we need to bring further performance to the MP4-25 if we are to remain at the forefront of this championship battle.

"I think Silverstone showed that we were in no mood to be complacent - either in our aggressive push to put upgrades on the car or our decision to remove them and put our faith in an older iteration of the car, despite a lack of running compared with our rivals. It's ambition and decisiveness that win world championships, and, on both counts, I think we got that blend just right last weekend, which is pleasing."

McLaren tested its new blown diffuser during Silverstone's Friday practice sessions but opted not to run the device during the race weekend. After further evaluation work, Whitmarsh believes there may be enough improvement to use the diffuser for the whole of the German Grand Prix weekend.

"The days since the Santander British Grand Prix have been spent back at the MTC industriously undertaking rig tests, dyno running and development in the wind tunnel to ensure that the future deployment of the blown diffuser gives us a more accurate and beneficial read.

"Of course, that final validation will only come at the circuit. So we're looking at undertaking a major test programme on Friday at Hockenheim. This will involve both drivers running back-to-back evaluations with the T2 and T3 floors.

"And, if these prove positive, we'll then look at the deployment of the new floor for the remainder of the race weekend. But that's a decision we'll only make after a thorough analysis of the inherent risks and benefits."

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