British GP: McLaren says rain no problem for car development
McLaren sporting director Sam Michael does not believe the wet weather during Friday practice for the British Grand Prix is a major setback for the team
Jenson Button and Sergio Perez completed only installation laps during Friday morning practice but even though the team does have some car tweaks to try.
But as the bulk of its parts have been signed off after being trialled during practice for the Canadian GP earlier this month and in Tuesday's aerodynamic test, Michael is not concerned at the restricted running.
"If it doesn't rain again, with a bit of wind it might be good for slicks halfway through," said Michael before Friday afternoon practice when asked about progress by AUTOSPORT.
"We will just compress our programme into this afternoon.
"We have got two or three things to test on the car but we brought some upgrades here and they are all working; we know they work because we did some pre-tests in Montreal on Friday.
"When we did some aero testing earlier this week down in Spain, we signed loads of bits off.
"The only bits we have got to test on the car are tweaks rather than wholesale changes, which we have already signed off."
Michael would not go into detail about the new parts, although admitted they are both aerodynamic and mechanical.
He added that he has sympathy for the fans, who sat through long periods of inaction in wet conditions during morning practice.
"It's not so much [a problem] for us," said Michael. "When it comes to set-up it hurts a little bit but it's worse for the fans because they don't see cars driving around.
"There are good reasons why we don't run whether it's damaging the car or saving tyres.
"Saving tyres shouldn't be an issue here because rain is not forecast for Saturday and Sunday but it can change quickly.
"The problem is, whenever we have been through this discussion before of whether we bring more wet tyres, there's resistance because you don't use them most of the time and it's expensive."
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