Team Talk - Wednesday at Silverstone

McLaren

Motor Racing - Formula One Testing - In-Season Test - Day 2 - Silverstone, England

 

Stoffel Vandoorne - 5th, 1:31.764
“We’ve had quite a successful day – a lot of aero stuff to do this morning and then after that I got some good runs in. We’ve been testing various new systems we’ve got on the car. It’s the final day of in-season testing so there’s always a lot on the programme to complete – not just aero and set-up but also power unit-related work.

“We weren’t too rain-affected and made the most of the dry conditions today. The car felt positive and I could push straight away, which is always a nice feeling after a few months out of the cockpit. We pressed on with a lot of development to try and resolve some of the issues we had during the British Grand Prix weekend, which wasn’t always easy as the wind changes a lot here as the day goes on and it makes quite a big difference to car balance.

“Luckily, we had a lot of tyres left because of all the rain yesterday, so in between set-up changes we tried to get as many laps in as possible, and I’m pleased with how today has gone.”

Dave Redding, team manager
“Stoffel started the day carrying out further aero correlation work started by Fernando yesterday. Once this was successfully completed, the programme switched to medium-term development items for both the power unit and chassis.

“Stoffel was straight up to speed and drove consistently throughout the day despite the gusting wind and occasional rain shower. Overall, we are very satisfied with how the two days of testing have gone – it’s provided us with a huge amount of valuable data to pore over, which will be put to good use by our engineers to help shape the development of the MP4-31 over the coming months and beyond.”

Satoshi Nakamura, Honda R&D Co Ltd Principal Engineer
“Similar to yesterday, everything went smoothly for the final day of running, and we were able to complete all aspects of our test programme. The functionality and reliability of the newly upgraded ICE intake system was further confirmed, and we were able to check for any potential shortcomings at the Hungaroring. We were also able to work on good data set-up for Hungary. This data will now be analysed on the dyno in both Milton Keynes and Sakura before the next race weekend.

“Both our drivers have done a good job over these past few days, driving solidly and giving precise, detailed feedback for us to work with, so thank you to Fernando and Stoffel. Last but not least, the team has done an incredible job during these gruelling back-to-back races and test conditions.”