McLaren head to the Italian Grand Prix full of confidence after proving their low-downforce package is capable of putting them at the top of the pack.
Whilst the second sector at Spa-Francorchamps differs wildly from the long-straights and heavy braking zones at Monza, sectors one and three share many similarities.
This is the reason McLaren head to Monza full of confidence as Jenson Button, who ran their low-downforce package, was fastest through both high-speed sections.
“I head to Monza absolutely full of motivation after a fantastic result in Spa,” said Button. “Monza is one of the greatest circuits in the world and our car seems to be particularly well suited to high-speed circuits, so I’m optimistic that we’ll be competitive again this weekend.”
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh admits it’s useless making predictions this season, but even he is convinced McLaren will be very strong this weekend.
“While I still think that making predictions from race to race is largely futile, it’s satisfying to see there’s some shape to our performances.
“We’ve qualified a car on the front row of the grid for seven of this year’s 12 races – and that’s hugely motivational for our designers and engineers because it shows that we’re able to develop and refine the car successfully from track to track. There’s no reason why that shouldn’t continue.
“Our low-downforce potential was clear to see in Spa and we’re hopeful of picking up where we left off in Italy.”