McLaren Mercedes Team Vodafone
McLaren
22 Lewis Hamilton 23 Heikki Kovalainen
Testers: Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett
No team in history has ever gone through as bruising a season as McLaren experienced in 2007. First there was the exhilaration of Lewis Hamilton’s early performances, and the on-track fight with Ferrari. Then came the ‘Stepneygate’ spy scandal, followed by internal strife between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. It concluded with a US$100m fine, disqualification from the world championship for constructors, and Kimi Raikkonen pipping Hamilton and Alonso to the drivers’ title in the final race.
In theory, there should be the humiliation of a garage at the wrong end of the pit lane this year, but within McLaren right now there is no looking back. Everything is totally focused on one task, and one task only: winning. The team’s philosophy has always been to win every race; that’s the way to win championships.
In recent testing the MP4-23 set the pace, giving rise to optimism that Hamilton and his new team mate Heikki Kovalainen will be able to take the fight to Ferrari once more. Whether they have the necessary technical savvy, and the strength of character to get on with one another, remain but two of the fascinating aspects of this team’s battle for redemption.
Lewis Hamilton has claimed he and new McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will compete on equal terms.
The 23-year-old had an intense struggle for supremacy with Fernando Alonso at McLaren last season but he has hinted that will not be case with Kovalainen. Hamilton told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We have been hired to win. Whichever driver does it, it doesn’t really matter - for the team at least. “We’re both in our second year and we have the same amount of experience.”
Source www.news.bbc.co.uk