McLaren must make quick start to 2012

Woking: McLaren must make a quick start to next season after being too slow off the mark this year, team principal Martin Whitmarsh said.

McLaren have won six of 18 Formula One races this year, including Lewis Hamilton`s victory in Abu Dhabi last weekend, but looked way off the pace in pre-season testing and took months to be able to challenge Red Bull. Hamilton and Jenson Button have three wins each and will be fighting hard to come out on top in the final round in Brazil next week. "By the high standards of McLaren, this has not been a vintage year," Whitmarsh told reporters at the opening of McLaren`s sportscar production centre. "We have secured second place in the constructors` championship but clearly we want to win more races than this.” "We have got to get out of the blocks quickly, effectively, at the start of next year and make sure we are winning races. We`ve had a slow start to this year but we`ve got two great drivers and a fantastic team of men and women." McLaren Racing managing director Jonathan Neale said next year`s car was well under way. "The carry over that we expect from the car that won on Sunday to the first test on the first of February will be around six percent," he said. "We need to start next year quick. We`ve shown that we can out-develop and stay close to everybody, we`ve consistently won races, we are consistently on the podium but we don`t win championships enough and that`s a frustration." Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel won both titles this season for the second year in a row. McLaren`s last drivers` title was with Hamilton in 2008 and they have not taken the constructors` crown since 1998. Bureau Report