McLaren Supports New Teams in F1

Although several drivers and one manufacturer – obviously, we're talking about Ferrari – have publicly expressed their discontent over how the new teams have behaved in recent testing, not to talk about the fact that HRT F1 is yet to do a single mile of testing with their 2010 challenger, McLaren Mercedes once again position themselves on the other side of the fence.

Although admitting that some problems may arise regarding the Hispania Racing F1 Team's programme for the 2010 season – they hardly made the final cut and will debut their F1 single-seater during the Friday practice sessions of Bahrain – McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale insisted that the inclusion of new teams was necessary after the exodus of important manufacturers such as Honda, BMW or Toyota.

“As a group we have to be supportive in getting new teams off the ground. respect greatly what the drivers are saying and one or two have raised concerns about it, but I think that's a matter for the FIA,” said Neale during a media teleconference on Tuesday.

“We have to try and get as many new teams off the ground and stabilise them as quickly as possible because we need it in view of the disappointing losses Honda, Toyota and BMW (since 2008) is disappointing. I'd like to think that collectively we can achieve that,” added the McLaren managing director.

In recent days, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and also McLaren's Jenson Button revealed concerns over the big gap in performance between the frontrunners and the new teams. While Webber nicknamed the new outfits “Mickey Mouse teams”, Massa said they can cause dangerous situations in both race and qualifying and Button insisted that practice sessions will be heavily influenced by traffic.