Manor Racing’s racing director Dave Ryan admitted the team under-performed during the Australian Grand Prix, but expects a better performance in Bahrain this weekend.
Former McLaren employee Ryan praised drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto for their contribution, but felt there were areas that needed improvement in Australia, and feels there is potential in the MRT05 car to take them away from the rear of the field.
“We came away from Melbourne feeling a little disappointed, no two ways about it,” said Ryan. “The drivers did a great job and there’s a lot of potential in the car but we need to do a better job of bringing everything together when it counts.
“I’m sure every team can say the same as it’s only the beginning but I’m expecting us to make improvements in every area this weekend.”
Some of the mistakes seen in Australia were during qualifying, and with the format unchanged despite widespread criticism of it this weekend, Ryan knows they will have to do a better job to avoid filling the back row again in Bahrain.
“It’s back, so we have to work with it,” said Ryan of the elimination-style qualifying format. “Notwithstanding our opinion of it, we didn’t do a good enough job in Melbourne, so that’s where our team needs to focus its attentions.
“We’ve reviewed our approach and there’s plenty of room for improvement, some of which will come from developing the car and some from our performance as a team. They say the proof is in the pudding so let’s see how things look after the second helping!”
