De la Rosa: Hamilton crash a setback

Rookie Hamilton escaped unhurt from a high-speed accident in testing at the Valencia circuit last week, but the new MP4-22 car sustained heavy damage. The team started testing this week with just one car, before the repaired machine arrives today.

De la Rosa says the accident meant McLaren have lost valuable time that they will need to make up.

"Yeah, it's been a setback because it slows us down right in the middle of the off-season," de la Rosa told Marca newspaper in an interview. "We have lost several days and we have to get them back quickly.

"Fortunately Lewis is fine and that's the important thing, I'm sure he will recover from the scare.

"The team has done an extraordinary job over the weekend and we hope he can drive the second car again during the week."

Despite the setback, de la Rosa admits the new car is a step forward compared to last year's MP4-21, although the Spaniard is staying cautious until they can compare it with their main rivals.

"The car has been born well, without any vices," he added. "It's an evolution of last year's car, and therefore is better, but we still need to know how much, it's hard to tell right now.

"It's clear that we have made a step forward: the whole package has improved, but until we are on track with Ferrari and Renault this week we are cautious, because you can't draw any conclusions after running against BMW, like we did on the debut."