MCLAREN say they face a race against time to match the pace of their rivals ahead of the opening Grand Prix of the 2009 Formula One season on 29 March. World champion Lewis Hamilton’s car has performed poorly in pre-season testing. Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said: “We are working hard to resolve a performance shortfall.”

 

Norbert Haug, engine partner Mercedes’ motorsport boss, added: “We are definitely not fast enough and not competitive enough to aim for wins.” During this week’s test in Barcelona, Hamilton and his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen were well adrift of rivals Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota and the cars of the new Brawn team, who have only been officially in existence for a week. Hamilton finished bottom of the timesheets on Wednesday after damaging his car’s front wing and nose in a crash and was almost two seconds slower than Rubens Barrichello’s fastest time for Brawn GP on Thursday.