• McLaren

Whitmarsh optimistic over blown diffuser

Martin Whitmarsh and Lewis Hamilton disagreed over whether to run the device during the race © Sutton Images

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Martin Whitmarsh is confident his team will be able to close the performance gap to rivals Red Bull when it gets its blown diffuser working properly during the German Grand Prix weekend.

McLaren has followed Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault in introducing the new floor, but during practice for the British Grand Prix it struggled to find a balance and removed the device before qualifying.

The team will again test the blown diffuser during practice for the upcoming German Grand Prix and Whitmarsh is hopeful that the results will allow it to run the it during the race.

"I'm quite optimistic now," Whitmarsh told Autosport. "Because of circumstance we took the blown diffuser off on Friday, and we got a free back-to-back because on Saturday we didn't have it. I was looking at the data and I think we now have some understanding of the issues, if not all, and we can devise some experiments. Hopefully we can make some progress on Friday in Hockenheim and then use it."

Whitmarsh added that he was happy with his decision not to run the device over the race weekend although one of his drivers had a contrasting opinion.

"I think it was a big challenge. That could have been a mistake, but I'm glad we did it and I'm glad we took it off. I didn't feel like it on Friday night but now we have got a lot of good data. Lewis will still say that he thought we should have raced it and, from the data, I think he's not wrong. Ultimately it was my decision and I think it was the right one.

"I don't think we'd have had a much better result this weekend. We've got some good ideas now that will hopefully take us forward on Friday in Germany."

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