'McLaren are still in the Championship race'

Monday 19th May 2008

Norbert Haug has rubbished suggestions that McLaren are out of the Championship race, saying either driver could still win the title.

After five races McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen are third and sixth respectively in the Drivers' Standings. While Hamilton trails Kimi Raikkonen by seven points, Kovalainen is a further 14 adrift.

But with a maximum 130 still to play for over the next five and a half months, Haug reckons either of his drivers could easily make up the deficit and take over the lead.

"Not at all," he told the team's official website when asked if the gap to Ferrari had grown too big.

"McLaren have been closer to the leader on the challenging circuits of Barcelona and Istanbul than before in Malaysia and Bahrain.

"Lewis is seven points behind, Heikki 21. Last year at a later time of the season Kimi Raikkonen had a greater gap to the top than our drivers now.

"The team has to improve further, and then everything is possible."

The Mercedes motorsport vice president has turned his attention to Monaco, where he is hoping McLaren can put an end to Ferrari's current winning streak.

"For the team, this grand prix is always an extraordinary race, not least because we have won five times in the ten years since our first joint victory with McLaren in 1998," he said.

"This year I expect that at least a handful of teams are capable of achieving top positions."

Haug, though, does concede that one badly timed Safety Car could prove to be costly to any of the drivers as the new F1 rules mean that if a driver needs to refuel while the pit lane is closed they will be penalised.

"The right strategy, and sometimes also luck during the race, play a more important role at the street circuit in Monaco than at any other race track," he added.

"A Safety Car deployment following an accident can favour the driver who has just refueled and disadvantage the one who has yet to pit.

"Generally the one with the longer first stint has the better cards, however not if the Safety Car comes out at the wrong moment for him. For those circumstances Monaco is particularly special as it is almost impossible to overtake."

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