McLaren is working on a new cruise control system

McLaren intends to change its pit lane speed limiter system to reduce the risk of drivers accidentally activating it. This initiative follows Heikki Kovalainen’s minor mishap at the end of the Melbourne race.

The Finn had just overtaken Fernando Alonso for fourth place when he accidentally hit his speed limiter, which slowed his car and allowed Alonso to get back in front.

McLaren is therefore seeking through this modification to prevent such a scenario from happening again.

Paddy Lowe, the engineering director at McLaren stated this week: « We will definitely change this system in the future. »

« I think we could have done a better job ensuring that this kind of incident doesn’t happen. Whether in the way it is managed electronically or simply in its ergonomic form on the steering wheel. It shouldn’t be something that you can activate by accident when you have your hands on the wheel. »

Some teams have systems where the speed limiter engages below a certain achieved speed.