De la Rosa: lack of TC won't change much

Traction control has been banned from 2008, and several drivers will race in Formula One for the first time without aids this year.

De la Rosa, however, expects drivers to be able to adapt quickly and laptimes to be very similar to last year.

"The regulations change year by year. I don't think a lack of driver aids will make a big difference," said de la Rosa during the launch of the new McLaren.

"We get used to what we are given, and the laptimes will be similar."

Fellow test driver Gary Paffett said McLaren have carried out enough development to make the lack of traction control less noticeable.

"The biggest change as Pedro says is electronics," said Paffett. "It has changed slightly our approach. We have done a massive amount of development at McLaren Technology Centre, we've already tested without traction control and it has gone very well.

"It is the same as before. We just need to improve our development and make the package as competitive as possible."