Gascoyne downplays B-spec car chances

The Ferrari-powered team announced last month that they hoped to have the car ready for the European Grand Prix in July, but was then delayed until the Turkish race in August.

And although the team are pinning their hopes on the new car in order to help them move from the back of the field, Gascoyne has warned that it will be not enough to make Spyker truly competitive.

"We are pushing on with the test programme, aero development and of course the B-spec car," said Gascoyne. "This should be a move forward but we shouldn't pin our hopes too much on suddenly moving up the grid and being competitive, but we will continue evolving until the end of the year.

"I'm sure that by then we'll be in a more competitive position than we are now.

"It will be a step forward, but not as much as we need to be truly competitive; it is more part of the aero development that is ongoing into 2008," he added.

"I think we have to be realistic about it - although Spyker and new management have come on board, where we are at the moment is a result of the previous lack of investment.

"Spyker is putting all those things right, but we won't see the improvements on the race track for nine months to a year. In the meantime, we have to do a professional job with the package we have at the moment and look to next year."

Gascoyne believes, however, that the team, yet to score a point, could be set for their most competitive outing to date at next week's Monaco Grand Prix.

"I think Monaco is certainly our best chance in the first two-thirds of the season to achieve a good result," said Gascoyne. "Obviously aero efficiency isn't the key here as cars are running with max drag, so we believe we should be more competitive here than we have been at other circuits.

"It's also a race where if safety cars come into play, it can rain and so on, so we have to make the most of it. An advantage is that our drivers know it well too; it's a circuit Adrian (Sutil) has driven at before and has done very well at, and Christijan (Albers) has a good record here."