Formula 1 News - February, 2008
New McLaren needs to be faster - de la Rosa

Feb.12 (GMM) Pedro de la Rosa has praised McLaren's new car for 2008, but admits that engineers are busily trying to make the MP4-23 go quicker.

It is widely reported that Ferrari currently possesses the fastest of the newly revealed 2008 grid, and de la Rosa - McLaren's veteran Spanish tester - agrees that the only missing element to his team's new racer is a mite more performance.

"Basically we have to make the car faster, and that means a lot of work on the aerodynamic side still has to be done," de la Rosa, 36, said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Diario AS.

He added: "We are very pleased with the reliability we have shown until now, so the main thing is to be faster.

"But that does not mean that we no longer have a very competitive car in all areas."

De la Rosa also said McLaren is not enjoying a significant advantage ahead of the 2008 season just because the standard ECU was designed and supplied by a company owned by Ron Dennis' Woking based company.

"It's the same situation for everyone," he insisted. "No-one can change any parameters (of the unit) and all the other teams knew about it for some time.

"I do not see that we have an advantage."

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