McLaren Pleased with Valencia Test

The McLaren-Mercedes team declared themselves pleased with the performance of their new MP4-20 after a three-day test at the Valencia circuit.

"Our team had three productive test days," said Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug. "Kimi experienced some good steps forward in improving the performance of the MP4-20. I wouldn't read too much into the laptimes, but we are pleased with the progress we have made with the new MP4-20 so far."

Finn Kimi Raikkonen set a blistering pace on his final day of work on Thursday, which was trouble-free after his previous session on Wednesday was delayed by an accident in which he damaged the car slightly when he went off the track.

Tuesday's running had also been hampered by problems with the car's systems caused, according to the team, by the embedded time apparatus at the Valencia circuit. As a consequence, test driver Pedro de la Rosa could only complete 21 laps that day.

McLaren will now move to the Jerez circuit, where they will have two MP4-20 cars in action for the first time.

"There is still a lot of work to do in our next tests at Jerez and Barcelona," added Haug. "Collectively all teams present during testing at Valencia ran a total of almost 11,000 kilometres with 13 cars testing over the course of three days.

"This figure impressively reflects how intensive testing has become since the one-set-per-race tyre rule has been introduced. I'd like to thank our test team for all their hard work they have done day and night. In the first two months of the year these guys have the toughest job to do."