• Australian Grand Prix

McLaren puts trust in untested exhaust

Lewis Hamilton: "We have an adapted exhaust and an adapted floor, so fingers crossed when I get in the car I'll have more downforce" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Australian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are confident an unproved update package for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix will allow them to fight at the sharp end of the grid.

The new MP4-26 was off the pace in pre-season testing and, perhaps more worryingly, was riddled with reliability problems. For the first race of the season the team is hoping to claw back some of the one second deficit it believes it has to the front runners with a new and improved exhaust system and floor.

Bringing big untested components to the first race has inherent risks, but Button is happy with the team's approach and hinted at a sizeable improvement.

"Winter testing was not easy for us, it was very tough," Button is quoted by BBC Sport. "Reliability was not as good as we would have hoped, we didn't do a lot of mileage and we couldn't really see the pace of the car. With the new exhaust system and a few other tweaks then hopefully we've made up quite a bit of ground.

"I like the aggressive approach of bringing a new exhaust system here and really fighting for it. Whether it's enough to challenge the top teams we'll have to wait and see. We could be pleasantly surprised this weekend."

Hamilton is also expecting a significant boost from the upgrade package.

"Hopefully we are a lot closer than we were in Barcelona," he said. "We have an adapted exhaust and an adapted floor, so fingers crossed when I get in the car I'll have more downforce.

"The downforce gives you overall grip and that gives you confidence to attack corners more, to carry that speed through the high-speed corners and to get on the power harder. We are looking at the challenge positively. My guys haven't given up and said 'this is all we have, you'll just have to deal with it'. They've made every attempt to improve the car and hopefully we won't be too far behind.

"I've won a race in every season I've raced in and we've had the ability to pull through whatever circumstances and win races."

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