Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Boullier believes McLaren are making progress and have solved major teething problems

(McLaren Honda)

McLaren Honda Racing Director Eric Boullier believes that the Woking based outfit are over the worst of their teething problems following an extremely difficult start to their renewed partnership with Honda.

The team have retained Jenson Button this season who is partnered by former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. McLaren had an extremely tough time over the course of winter testing as a result of installation and other issues surrounding the new Honda power unit. 

In the opening race of the season Jenson Button finished the Australian Grand Prix in eleventh place albeit 2 laps down on race winner Lewis Hamilton.

Kevin Magnussen replaced the injured Fernando Alonso and failed to finish the race. At the Malaysian Grand Prix neither Jenson nor Fernando finished the race due to a mechanical issue with the MP4-30. Both drivers are happy with the chassis but want the team to work on the reliability of the power unit with Honda.

In China two weeks ago both Button and Alonso finished the race completing the team’s first race finish of the season. Button and Alonso qualified for the race in 17th and 18th place respectively while in race the pair finished the race in 12th (Alonso) and 14th (Button) both finishing the race one lap down.

Last time out at the Bahrain night race at the Sakhir International Circuit Button failed to qualify for the race and was unable to start the race due to a mechanical issue with the car. Fernando Alonso on the other hand, started the race from 14th place on the grid and went on to finish the race just outside the points in eleventh place.

Speaking following the race the Spaniard stated that it would be the last time that the team would finish outside the points.

Boullier has revealed that in Bahrain obviously one car had a number of problems while the other ran relatively problem free and the Frenchman has been encouraged by the progress that the Woking based outfit have made. The team will have an upgraded power unit from Honda for the next race, the Spanish Grand Prix, the opening race of the European leg of the 2015 season.

Boullier wants the reliability of car to be worked on and he believes that this will be sorted out in time as the partnership is still young and is in the process of maturing.

© Ben Johnston 2015

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