Haug calls for more aggressive qualifying

McLaren traditionally run heavy fuel loads in qualifying in a bid to maximise their race chances. Haug thinks that tactic now needs to change.

By qualifying so far down the order, McLaren's drivers often get trapped behind slower cars at the start of the race. This hampers their chances of a decent result.

To make the most of their race pace, Haug believes that Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa need to start on the front two rows of the grid in Hockenheim.

"We aim for a good result in our home race," said Haug on Tuesday. "We made more progress during intensive tests at Jerez last week; at Magny-Cours, we posted the fastest lap of the Michelin teams and our race speed was amongst the best of the Michelin runners.

"However, we have to manage to start from the first two rows on the grid, this is the only way to turn this pace into the positions we expect."

Raikkonen is hopeful that developments introduced at last week's Jerez test will help lift the MP4-21's performance this weekend.

"Our car has definitely been improving over the last few races, and we had another productive test in Jerez last week as the development process on the MP4-21 continues," he explained.

"Hopefully when we get to Germany we will be able to make the most of this on track."