McLaren to run Melbourne spec car next week

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F1 Test, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuitbh

McLaren have enjoyed a reliable four days of testing at Bahrain while also showing competitiveness on all four days. McLaren now look forward to next week where the MP4-29 will be fitted with aero updates for Melbourne.

Jenson Button today completed 66 laps (357km) with a best time of 1m34.957s, mere hundredths away from the best time set the day before by teammate Kevin Magnussen on the super soft tyres.

"The fourth and final day of the first of two Bahrain pre-season tests. Jenson was again behind the wheel for McLaren Mercedes, completing 66 laps as the team worked through a suite of set-up changes. This week’s test enabled the team to develop and refine areas of investigation that were initiated at the Jerez test earlier this month.

"This week’s run data will feed into next week’s test, also in Bahrain, when the team will update and run the MP4-29 in the specification intended for the season-opener in Melbourne.

"Equally importantly, the team completed more than 1600km of largely trouble-free running – an encouraging figure given the important role that
reliability will likely play in the opening races."