McLaren expect improvements at Monaco

McLaren has expressed confidence that its troublesome MP4-24 will be far more competitive on the twisty streets of Monaco next week than it was at the demanding Circuit de Catalunya.
The Woking squad made steady progress improving its car over the season’s opening four rounds, with Lewis Hamilton scoring its best result so far with fourth in Bahrain, but slipped way back in Spain last weekend and failed to score a point.But with Monte Carlo’s absence of fast corners meaning good traction is far more important than strong aerodynamics, McLaren believes the track will expose fewer of its cars weaknesses.
Therefore world champion Lewis Hamilton, who claimed victory in the Principality last year and who makes no secret of his love for the circuit, is expecting to be fighting further up the order.“There’s an expectation that Monaco will be another good circuit for our car package because the combination of low-speed corners and absence of any really fast stuff should suit MP4-24,” he said.
“I really hope so because it would be fantastic to have a competitive car and to be fighting at the front again.”While McLaren is optimistic of a much improved showing on its Barcelona form it is still unlikely to claim a hat-trick of Monaco wins, having also won with Fernando Alonso in 2007.
Nevertheless team boss Martin Whitmarsh says its impressive past record on the streets adds to its general belief that the weekend can be a more positive one.“Everybody at McLaren is rightfully proud of the team’s reputation around the streets of Monte Carlo,” he said.
“We have won the grand prix for the past two seasons and McLaren has triumphed here an unprecedented 15 times – more than any other Formula 1 team. “As a result, we go into the race with a greater degree of optimism than we had going into Barcelona: both Lewis and Heikki enjoy this circuit and we feel MP4-24 will be a more competitive proposition around the streets of the Principality.”Despite the circuit’s lack of long straights and passing opportunities, McLaren will continue to run its KERS device despite teams generally expecting it to give few overall benefits.Heikki Kovalainen admits he is unsure if he will be able to put the system’s power boost function to good use, but nevertheless believes it is the right decision to keep it on the car.
“We will be using KERS in Monaco and one of the questions will be whether we’ll actually be able to use it to get past other cars,” he said.“As usual, KERS will be a benefit for us, but anything can happen in Monte Carlo. “
The Finn himself is looking to improve both his fortunes from the race there in 2008 and from Spain last Sunday (when his car stopped after seven laps).“I really enjoy driving on street circuits and I’m optimistic that we’ve got a good package for Monaco,” Kovalainen added.
“Although the results don’t show it, because I was forced to start from the pitlane, I had a very strong race here last year and charged up from the back to finish eighth.“Coming off the back of a disappointing race in Spain last week, I’m more determined than ever to get a strong result under my belt.”