McLaren drivers can't wait to race new car
McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard have both said they cannot wait to race the new MP4-18 after testing the car at Barcelona last week. Both will rely on the old car for the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend
The team has taken the MP4-17D to Montreal, which Pedro de la Rosa continued to develop as the outfit ran parallel development programmes in Barcelona and Monza for the two chassis last week.
Raikkonen holds a slender four-point lead over world champion Michael Schumacher in the title race, and McLaren considers reliability a critical factor with the championship so close. The team is thus holding back the debut of the new car until F1 returns to Europe at the Nurburgring in just over two weeks time.
"It was excellent to have my debut run in the MP4-18 at Barcelona," said Coulthard. "After all the hype it was fantastic to be able to drive it and it felt good. I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of it at Jerez when we return from Canada."
Raikkonen, who finished a close second to Juan Pablo Montoya in the recent Monaco Grand Prix was equally enthusiastic: "I really enjoyed driving it for two days. It was great. Now I am looking forward to racing it."
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