McLaren inspires optimism

A little more than a month remains until the start of the next Formula 1 world championship. The entire off-season was spent searching for the intrigue of the upcoming races against the backdrop of Ferrari’s total superiority. The International Motor Sports Federation has made a number of changes to the rules in the hope of intensifying the fight as much as possible, but if Ferrari’s main competitors do not make progress, then there will still be no need to dream of intrigue. In this regard, encouraging messages are coming from the tracks where the main protagonists of the “royal racing” test their cars.

Last week, five-time world champion Michael Schumacher somewhat alarmedly commented on the first off-season results achieved by McLaren. And even though test runs are not always the most informative from the point of view of the result - it is unknown what the teams experience in specific training sessions - certain conclusions can be drawn. Moreover, one cannot ignore the fact that the McLaren test driver is half a second ahead of Michael Schumacher himself. This is exactly what happened on Wednesday in Barcelona, ​​and the best time was shown by Alex Wurz (1:11.095), who completed 75 laps. Schumacher completed 10 more laps, but was only able to achieve 1:11.613. Rubens Barrichello did the most - 103 laps, but ended up only fourth - 1:11.741. Silver Arrows leader David Coulthard wedged himself between the two Ferrari drivers - 1:11.635 in 52 laps.

Vladimir ILYIN