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According to exclusive formula1.com sources, a relatively senior member of Ilmor Engineering, the company that is run by Mario Illien and is under contract with Mercedes Benz to manufacture McLaren's engine, was recently dismissed by the Northamptonshire based company.
"A senior engineer there (Ilmor) was recently let go because they found some problems with the engine in a number of areas ," said the exclusive formula1.com source.

Simon Armstrong, who as of 2000 held the title of Engineering Coordinator, was apparently asked to leave Ilmor only a few weeks ago as a result of some important deficiencies in the 2002 McLaren engine.

According to the source, there are some problems with the new McLaren engine that should have been evident in the engineering process. Moreover, the engine is short on power.

When formula1.com contacted Ilmor, a spokesperson simply said, "No comment." The company would also not confirm Armstrong's title.

Recent events would lend credibility to this report, as McLaren's team principal, Ron Dennis, was quite candid about the situation at the launch of its 2002 contender last Saturday.

"We are not where we want to be and Norbert Haug has been very open about that ," Dennis told Autosport at the MP4-17 launch in reference to the 2002 engine. "But there are another five weeks and there is a lot of work to do and a lot of parts coming. By Melbourne we should be more comfortable about where we are," he concluded.


In the week leading up the launch there had been speculation that Ilmor was running five days behind with the production of the power pack, and it was rumoured that Alex Wurz may have to drive on limited revs at the post presentation shake down.

On the day it was not clear if this was the case, and the Austrian set a best time of 1.21.110. This was 1.9 seconds slower than the best time set in subsequent tests this week.

For 2002, McLaren have chosen a completely new design for their power unit instead of relying on a development of the 2001 engine, which is believed to have been a development on the one used in 2000. There is also speculation that the new engine has a 90° v-angle as opposed to the 72° angle of the 2001 unit.

bron: www.formula1.com via de mannen van www.f1pits.net

Als je het mij vraagt, lijkt dit toch geen grondig optimisme bij het begin van het nieuwe seizoen.
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