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McLaren 'short nose' fails F1 crash tests

LONDON, England - The centrepiece of McLaren's aerodynamic upgrade for the 2015 Austrian GP on June 21 has yet to be passed for racing.

The previous race, in Montreal on June 7, was a notably bleak weekend for the Honda-powered team but the bright side was that a number of improvements are in the pipeline for Austria.

Driver Jenson Button confirmed: "There is a new engine package, a lot of things coming for Austria. It will be very different apart from the colour scheme."

FAILED CRASH TESTS

Teams have been turning towards so-called 'short nose' aerodynamic concept in 2015 but Red Bull, for one, faced a long delay in getting its version over the hurdle of the International Automobile Federation's mandatory crash tests.

International news reports indicate that changes to McLaren's MP4-30 have failed as many as five tests, the most recent at the UK's Cranfield facility.

A McLaren spokesman told GMM: "Some significant aero updates require crash testing. They rarely pass their crash tests first time around.

"We are confident that our new nose box will pass its crash test in the near future."

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2015 Formula 1 season. Fresh reports every day.

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