Whitmarsh says no to the shark fin cover

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Thursday 7th August 2008

McLaren have no plans to use the shark fin engine cover in any of the upcoming races, according to CEO Martin Whitmarsh.

Main title rivals Ferrari adopted the aerodynamic device for last weekend's Hungarian GP with great results as Felipe Massa was on course for the victory before an engine failure dashed his hopes three laps before the end of the grand prix.

But despite seeing the positive effect the engine cover had on Ferrari's performance, Whitmarsh says McLaren won't be using it any time soon.

"We tested the engine cover dorsal fin during the pre-German Grand Prix test at Hockenheim. It's intended aim was to improve the car's sensitivity during yaw, but we found that some of the advantage it brought to that area was being offset elsewhere," he said.

"As you can clearly see, it is a large structure and one that is particularly sensitive to crosswinds. We felt that our car already delivers sufficiently in yaw and that continuing to experiment with the dorsal fin might not bring us the sufficient performance benefit we'd require to make it worthwhile.

"As such, it is not something we are giving priority to at the moment."