Lewis Hamilton has expressed his confidence that the new McLaren will be an improvement on last year's car as the team strive to end Red Bull's dominance of the sport.
Although Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button each won three races last year in the MP4-26, they were unable to mount a serious challenge to the reign of double world champion Sebastian Vettel.
However, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, the 2008 world champion said that McLaren's MP4-27 could be the car with which they take the fight to Red Bull on a consistent basis.
"Certainly. It will be up to us to be able to surpass it," Hamilton said, when asked whether Red Bull were still the team to beat.
"From what I've seen, however, the new McLaren seems a lot better than last year's."
He explained: "Basically, the Red Bull is an evolution of the aerodynamic concepts introduced in 2009. Midway through 2011 it was phenomenal, it was at the highest level and on top of that it almost never broke down.
"By contrast, when we had the same reliability, we lacked the same performance."
Vettel built his title success last year on a stunning run of early-season success and Hamilton said he wanted McLaren to also hit the ground running in 2012, something they have failed to achieve in recent seasons.
"During the winter you always dream of arriving at the start of the season with a car that goes quick immediately," he said. "This hasn't happened in the last two seasons. I want it to happen this year. If we start well, we'll stay at the top more easily."
Hamilton also played down the prospect of his relationship with Button becoming strained, assuming McLaren's car can make them both title contenders.
Button finished ahead of Hamilton in the 2011 drivers' championship - the first time the latter had been beaten by a team-mate during his career.
"Jenson is very quick and he's gathered a strong team of technicians around him. I'd like to be ahead of him all the times, and I'm not happy if the opposite happens," Hamilton added.
"However, psychologically it's absolutely not a problem. Besides, he's an open and cheerful guy who I get along with. It would be nice to fight for the 2012 championship with him: that's just up to McLaren!"
