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McLaren assigns new engineers for drivers
Source: Agencies |
January 13, 2010, Wednesday
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MCLAREN moved to level the playing field between teammates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button on Monday by announcing new race engineers for both of the Formula One champions.
The Mercedes-powered team said in a statement that Hamilton, champion with them in 2008, had been assigned Andy Latham.
Fellow-Briton Button, who has joined from Brawn (now Mercedes) after winning last year's title, will have Danish-born Jakob Andreason working on his car.
Phil Prew, who worked with 25-year-old Hamilton last year, was named principal race engineer.
"When Jenson visited (the factory), one of the questions he asked was, 'Is this Lewis's team?" said McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale.
"The answer was 'Yes, of course it's Lewis's team ... as it was Heikki Kovalainen's team, Fernando Alonso's team, Juan Pablo Montoya's and Kimi Raikkonen's. And it will be your team as well."
Neale said McLaren felt the time was right for a change of race engineers after the previous pair had been in the job for more than 15 years.
With all teams agreeing to reduce the number of staff attending races, it was a good time for an organizational rethink. "We also want to build an engineering team around Jenson, in exactly the same way we did with Lewis back in 2007," added Neale.
"We want to create a strong group of individuals who can bring out the best in Jenson's naturally smooth style. Now that we have Jenson confirmed to drive alongside Lewis, we want to make absolutely sure we can do an equal job for both drivers," he added.
Button and Hamilton are McLaren's first champion teammates since the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna and Frenchman Alain Prost lined up together in 1989.
The Mercedes-powered team said in a statement that Hamilton, champion with them in 2008, had been assigned Andy Latham.
Fellow-Briton Button, who has joined from Brawn (now Mercedes) after winning last year's title, will have Danish-born Jakob Andreason working on his car.
Phil Prew, who worked with 25-year-old Hamilton last year, was named principal race engineer.
"When Jenson visited (the factory), one of the questions he asked was, 'Is this Lewis's team?" said McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale.
"The answer was 'Yes, of course it's Lewis's team ... as it was Heikki Kovalainen's team, Fernando Alonso's team, Juan Pablo Montoya's and Kimi Raikkonen's. And it will be your team as well."
Neale said McLaren felt the time was right for a change of race engineers after the previous pair had been in the job for more than 15 years.
With all teams agreeing to reduce the number of staff attending races, it was a good time for an organizational rethink. "We also want to build an engineering team around Jenson, in exactly the same way we did with Lewis back in 2007," added Neale.
"We want to create a strong group of individuals who can bring out the best in Jenson's naturally smooth style. Now that we have Jenson confirmed to drive alongside Lewis, we want to make absolutely sure we can do an equal job for both drivers," he added.
Button and Hamilton are McLaren's first champion teammates since the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna and Frenchman Alain Prost lined up together in 1989.
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