Hamilton voices concerns over McLaren F1 chances

The Formula 1 season had been due to get underway in Bahrain this weekend, but for McLaren the postponement of the race is a huge relief, for the performance of their new car has been nothing short of disastrous in pre-season testing.

The two week delay before the first Grand Prix of the year in Australia later this month will not give them time to rectify all the vehicles's faults but it does give them some breathing space.

As the final testing session drew to a close in Spain this week, Lewis Hamilton backed his team mate Jenson Button's downbeat assessment of the model MP4-26 vehicle's chances this season. "Do I believe I have a car to win the world championship at the moment? I don't. No," said Hamilton on Wednesday. "But that doesn't mean it won't become a world championship-winning car."

His verdict came a day after Button had written off the team's chances of getting anything from the Australian Grand Prix on March 27. The 2009 world champion said: "I'd be surprised if we can match Red Bull and Ferrari when we get to Melbourne. It's a big ask. To be on their pace is going to be tricky."

Hamilton, who won the title in 2008, tried to add a positive note saying: "[It's] no-one's fault, just issues you have in testing, and this is testing, this is what it's all about, finding where your weaknesses are so you can build on them and fix them."

However, it's not just the two drivers who have concerned. Even more damning criticism has come from experts watching testing. BBC commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle said earlier in the week that the car looked a "mess". He explained: "[It] didn't turn in. It couldn't get the power down. Lewis looked absolutely at sea in the thing. Clearly they have a fundamental issue."

Another BBC pundit, Eddie Jordan, blamed McLaren's policy of changing its designers every year. "I have a real problem with McLaren over this whole concept," he said. "No major, winning team currently uses that system. Both of the drivers are very unhappy. It probably needs a whole new car at this early stage. McLaren have done this now too often."

The third member of the BBC team, another former driver David Coulthard, weighed in as well. He said: "By the time you sort it out, everyone will have brought their second and third upgrades along."

But Hamilton did launch a defence of the car. He said of the critics: "They don't drive it so they don't know exactly how it is." He even claimed that the car felt better than the previous year's model. ·