Friday February 4th, 2000

Adrian Newey, the technical director of the McLaren team and creative mainspring behind their new MP4-15 car, said on Thursday that he believes it has the potential to be more competitive and reliable than its highly successful predecessor, the MP4-14.

The softly-spoken Briton, whose aerodynamic, design and engineering skills have earned him a reputation as the most sought-after man -- other than drivers -- in the Formula One paddock, said also that his latest Mercedes-Benz-powered car was an evolutionary work, building on solid foundations, rather than a dramatic step forward.

"When you are in the third successive year of a set of technical regulatons, even with a package of rule changes like those we have this year, there is not very much room for any specially great exploitation of new ideas.

"This year, the changes are not much really. They are relatively small. But, of course, we have done our best to find ways of improving on what we had last year and there are a number of details on the car which have evolved and been modified."

Speaking after the unveiling of the new MP4-15 at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain, Newey was as bashful as ever but admitted that after a troubled start to the 1999 season, when car reliability was a problem for McLaren, he and his technical team had concentrated on avoiding a similar experience.

"We have been working on a lot of the new areas in packaging and so on for quite some time so they are all well tested already," he explained. "Everything we have introduced has been tried out on the test car which has done so much work this winter. So, yes, we are confident of being in reasonably good shape."

Among the modifications introduced to the MP4-15 are a revised gearbox, in design and materials, revised hydraulics systems, a new exhaust system -- with the exhaust being integrated into the rear diffuser on the car, believed to be a new concept -- and a heavily-revised rear suspension plan.

All of the changes were enabled, too, by the early introduction by Mercedes-Benz of their latest V10 power unit, the F0 110 JV10, which first ran on the dyno on November 2 last year and was tested, at Jerez, on December 1. It is said to have achieved its targets in being more compact, lighter and delivering more power and greater driveability, also permitting a lower centre of gravity for the chassis and a revised aerodynamic package to take full advantage.

Like most members of the team's senior management and drivers, Newey heaped praise on newly arrived driver Olivier Panis, of France, whose wealth of experience, he said, had given the team far more strength in depth and relieved David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen of some of their previously intensive testing duties.

"Olivier is a very fine driver, a very experienced Grand Prix driver and he knows what we are looking for," he said. "He also happens to be very fast, too, which is not a bad thing and I am sure he will be a very valuable addition to the team."

Apart from a revised aerodynamic package for the front end of the car, all other new parts have been thoroughly tested, said Newey. "I am delighted with that," he said. "It means we are well down the road already and further ahead than last year. Now we just have to get the job done."