3rd McLaren

[Kicking-back]

Pedro de la Rosa will drive the Friday McLaren at Melbourne, Sepang and Sakhir.

[Glen]

The world's most expensive track-cleaner, to use Ron's own words.

It will give them a big edge, especially considering that tyre wear will be a critical issue. McLaren and Toyota get a few marks in the plus column for being able to do this.

I wish it was Wurz - even more, I wish he'd got a proper drive. Red Bull would have been perfect. Ah well.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Glen

The world's most expensive track-cleaner, to use Ron's own words.

It will give them a big edge, especially considering that tyre wear will be a critical issue. McLaren and Toyota get a few marks in the plus column for being able to do this.

I wish it was Wurz - even more, I wish he'd got a proper drive. Red Bull would have been perfect. Ah well.

Wurz is "wasted talent" in his role as test driver for Mclaren..Not that testing is not an important part of the bigger picture. I would prefer to have seen KR and AW as Mclaren drivers.

[Kicking-back]

Wurz is likely to do some Friday testing later in the season - they need to make some cockpit alterations for him.

And Ron's "track cleaner" comment referred to the 2003 arrangement, when the Friday testers got their own session without the rest of the teams.

Now they run alongside everyone else.

[Glen]

Yea - I know. Still ike to have a lugh at that though - I'm sure he pretty soon changed his mind about the value of it when he saw how well the Renaults went.

[Super Tourer]

IIRC - McLaren aim to run the 3rd drivers on a rota - I think 4 races at a time was the figure mentioned.

It seems logical to start with Pedro, as Wurz cannot fit easily into the MP4-20 and has yet to test it I believe.

[BootsOntheSide]

As the season goes on they might amke a decision to sue a particualr driver full-time if one is significantly faster than the other, or perhaps use a driver at a circuit he has a particualrly strong record at. McLaren could have a real advantage by having experienced drivers available for Friday.

[jhansen]

Out of the two (Wurz & de la Rosa), is one particular more suited to providing technical feedback and car setup knowledge?

[RWC]

it will be interesting to hear educated comments through the year about how much they are gaining in lap times and/or what other benifits this brings

[BootsOntheSide]

It will probably vary depending on the track, but I can see it being at least half a second a lap. It was certainly one of BAR's main advantages last year, and the advantage Renault gained from it seemed to outstrip what they lost from the limitations on testing away from the races that they took thanks to the 2003 system.

[Valve Bounce]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

It will probably vary depending on the track, but I can see it being at least half a second a lap. It was certainly one of BAR's main advantages last year, and the advantage Renault gained from it seemed to outstrip what they lost from the limitations on testing away from the races that they took thanks to the 2003 system.

I did notice that after The Ant went fast during friday practice, sometimes faster than Bunsen and Sato, BAR were able to use the information gleaned by The Ant and the BAR cars were much faster on Saturday practice. This seemed too regular to be just a coincidence.

This was especially valuable since BAR used their second fastest driver as the road sweeper.

The advantage of this third driver will be telling when McLaren uses this opportunity as they will be able to squeeze every advantage out of this for their two gung ho pilotes.

[SetikX]

HALF A SECOND A LAP! WHAT! So your saying, over a race distance, Mclaren will finish, 200 seconds faster then they would if they didnt run a third car? Come now! Tad optomistic, I doubt they would tweak .1 second out of the car, let alone .5 :P.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by SetikX

HALF A SECOND A LAP! WHAT! So your saying, over a race distance, Mclaren will finish, 200 seconds faster then they would if they didnt run a third car?

No.

I don't know of any Grand Prix which is 400 laps long....

[Glen]

You can't even generalise though - some circuits are notoriously hard to find the last half second from, or they change a lot, so Friday becomes less relevant, etc. Where it is very handy is when you get somewhere and the unexpected happens - like a new track surface, or a very cold conditions etc... then, having the third car gets you more experimentation at no risk.

[Gt_R]

The third car gives you freedom to run long run tyre evaluation to choose your compound, without stressing your race car. And being able to run the third car means you have more data and make a more informed decision to strategy/tyre choice and a better set up.

Very useful.

[JohnSSC]

Particularly useful when your race engine has to last for two weekends. You can sort of "throw caution to the winds" and really push the 3rd car, get the data you need and not risk premature wear on your 1 and 2 cars.

I wonder if the folks at McLaren do not look at the "troubles" last season as a tactical blessing in disguise for this one.

[Gt_R]

Effectively, Mercedes can develope an engine with higher performance as the mileage limit is far lower than what BMW/Ferrari have to meet.