SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

McLaren optimistic that Spa pace will translate

After winning consecutive races at high downforce Hungaroring and relatively low downforce Spa, McLaren is hopeful that it will be in good shape to achieve a hat-trick of victories at the Italian GP this coming weekend.

After winning consecutive races at high downforce Hungaroring and relatively low downforce Spa, McLaren is hopeful that it will be in good shape to achieve a hat-trick of victories at the Italian GP this coming weekend.

Monza's ultra-low downforce set-up is unique to the F1 calendar and a compliant car that is able to ride kerbs is also an asset in Italy, with the McLaren renowned as one of the stiffer chassis.

Post Belgium, however, McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe said: "As soon as we got to Q1 Jenson's pace was right there and we were more than pleased to see that. It was good to see such strong pace at another different kind of circuit. It looks like we've got strong underlying pace that we can translate at the next eight races.

"Jenson's Spa set-up is not that far off what we might run in Monza. So it's encouraging that the package is working well. A lot of the elements we used at Spa will go into what we run in Monza."

Neither the team nor Hungarian GP winner Hamilton are commenting on stories linking the 2008 world champion with a future at Mercedes. Asked if he knew which team he was driving for in 2013, Hamilton replied simply, "No."