SEPTEMBER 29, 2002

2003 plans revealed

Renault has revealed that their 2003 contender is nearly complete and will take to the track for testing as early as next week, while McLaren has announced they will start the 2003 season with an evolution of the MP4/17 rather than with a new car.

Renault has revealed that their 2003 contender is nearly complete and will take to the track for testing as early as next week, while McLaren has announced they will start the 2003 season with an evolution of the MP4/17 rather than with a new car.

The team feels that the current car has enough potential to continue its development into next season. Ferrari started the 2002 season with the F2001, because of reliability questions with the new F2002.

Ron Dennis said in Indianapolis, "We have a very clear plan of how we're going to run through next season. We hear the rumors that we'll use this year's car. That's not correct. We will use what is defined as the 17D. That is, a significantly modified version of what we're running, and that also applies to the derivation of the engine."

"Why? Because we know there's more to come from what we've got. And we know that if we go down that path, as demonstrated by Ferrari - it's not a question of copying Ferrari - we should at least have a greater potential for reliability in those first three races."