Zoom McLaren not the current benchmark, says Haug

Norbert Haug, Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, addresses Heikki Kovalainen's heavy crash at Barcelona and comments on the McLaren Mercedes team's results at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Looking ahead to next week-end's Turkish Grand Prix, Haug recognises that the team still has work to do in order to counter the Ferrari challenge.

How is Heikki Kovalainen doing following his accident in the Spanish Grand Prix on 27th April?

"Heikki was really lucky, and we were too of course. The MP4-23's safety cell prevented the outcome from being worse, as did the safety barriers at the race track. This accident might have had more serious consequences, had it not been for the FIA and the teams working intensively and continuously on improved safety standards over the past 14 years."

"The medical teams at the racetrack and in the hospital did exemplary jobs as well as the marshals. Heikki and the team want to thank all of them. Heikki didn't have any injuries; however, he did have a headache. One day after the accident, he was released from the hospital in Barcelona. First he took time to recover, and now he is preparing for the next Grand Prix in Istanbul. Before that he of course has to undergo the medical check by the FIA. It is not so important that Heikki will take part in the next race; it is important that he will be racing again when he will have fully recovered."

Prior to Barcelona, it has been the opinion of experts that on this track the real balance of power would become obvious and that the team which is in front in Barcelona would remain in front for the rest of the year. What is your opinion?

"Barcelona as the first Grand Prix of the European season and, with its challenging track layout, is definitely a yardstick for the following races. In qualifying, we missed pole position by less than three tenths of a second; however, we carried a little more fuel and therefore more weight. Anyway, even with the same fuel load we wouldn't have been fast enough to beat Ferrari."

"Since winning the season opener in Melbourne, our car has improved gradually and has become significantly faster. Unfortunately, we didn't score all possible points, neither in Melbourne, Malaysia, Bahrain or Barcelona, mostly due to self-induced mistakes and this is the reason for the gap to the top of the rankings, after Ferrari had scored only one point in Melbourne." "Our aim is to improve further over the next few races, however it is possible the Turkish Grand Prix might be a challenging race for the team."

How do you evaluate the chances of McLaren Mercedes in the Turkish Grand Prix?

"We didn't really shine here in the past, and also this time we are not the current benchmark. The team wants to score as many points as possible, but after three consecutive wins Ferrari obviously arrive here as the favourites."

D.B. © CAPSIS International