Whitmarsh: 2010 McLaren quicker than 2009 car

McLaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh claims that McLaren's 2010 car, which remains in its development stages, is already quicker than the contender raced by Heikki Kovalainen and outgoing Champion Lewis Hamilton this year. Having contributed to a dramatic recovery by the team this season, Whitmarsh is confident that race wins are a target for the entire campaign next year.

With McLaren's miserable start to 2009 having been only worsened by the 'Liegate' controversy, which consequently saw Team Manager David Ryan sacked, the Woking team remained on the straight and narrow to recovery to third overall in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of Ferrari by just a single point.

"Overall, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about it," Whitmarsh, who has now completed his first season as Team Principal, commented after Sunday's race in Abu Dhabi. "The team has worked tremendously hard all year to improve the MP4-24, which started the year as one of the slower cars but ended it with two fine wins and a string of impressive points-scoring finishes, culminating in a dominant pole position here – and Mercedes-Benz's engines have been excellent all year.

"Perhaps more important still is that work on the MP4-25 is already going very encouragingly – it's already quicker than the MP4-24 – and there's every reason for us to be confident that we'll be able to continue to develop and improve it significantly between now and the beginning of the 2010 season."

With Lewis Hamilton's current 5-year deal due to run for another three seasons from 2010, his team-mate is yet to be revealed.