McLaren drivers optimistic

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button remain optimistic ahead of the 2011 Formula One season.

The British duo still believe that McLaren can compete in this seasons championship and hope that new developments for the car will help close the gap between them and the apparent form teams of Red Bull and Ferrari.

The BBC believe that McLaren, amongst other developments, are working on an upgrade for their exhaust package ahead of the Barcelona test next week.

'We've good things in the pipeline, and we definitely improved in the last couple of days' testing [in Barcelona].' Lewis Hamilton said at a media day according to the BBC.

'We do have four more days [again at Barcelona] and hopefully things are going to run more sweetly at the next test - we get a lot of laps in, and then we can improve the base we have,' Jenson Button added.

To date in winter testing Red Bull and Ferrari have shown they have the fastest cars on the grid, while also completing long race length stints and hundreds of miles of testing to prove reliability.

While McLaren have been playing catch up throughout winter testing after development of the car over ran.

The late arrival of McLaren's 2011 car meant that it wasn't unveiled until the second testing session in Jerez, while technical issues affected testing in Barcelona.

The final test session in Barcelona will prove crucial to the team if they are to close the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.