Raikkonen Pleased with Revised McLaren

Kimi Raikkonen was pleased after testing the new Formula One car that McLaren hope will rescue their season at a wet Silverstone on Tuesday.

"We only managed to do a few laps in the morning due to rain but we were able to do some more running in the afternoon when the track was drying," commented Raikkonen at the end of the day. "My first impression of the car is that it feels good.

"As it takes time to develop a car on the track we still have a busy couple of days ahead of us. What is important for me is that the development car seems to feel and behave really well so far."

Raikkonen took the MP4-19B out for its first installation lap in a downpour this morning, but was able to complete 46 laps during the day and finished second quickest behind Renault's Fernando Alonso.

McLaren need the heavily revised car as soon as possible after making their worst start to a season since team boss Ron Dennis took charge in 1981. The Mercedes-powered team, who have won more Grands Prix than any team other than Ferrari, are in sixth place and in danger of sliding further after their cars failed to finish either of the last two races.

The current car is sure to be used in Canada next week and at Indianapolis in the United States the week after, possibly with some modifications.

"We did what we could today considering the weather without experiencing any major problems," said Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's Formula One CEO. "Hopefully the weather will improve so we can go through our planned testing programme. The car appears to be a step in the right direction, but it really is too early to say anything more."

Although the car is described by the team as an updated version of the current one rather than a new creation, it is sufficiently different to have been resubmitted for the mandatory FIA crash tests.

"Virtually all the mechanical parts are the same but, from the bodywork perspective, it's heavily updated and that involves some changes to the monocoque shape," said technical director Adrian Newey last month. In terms of lap time benefit, the simulation says it should be significant."