McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the team’s progress since the first pre-season test shows how hard it is working to return to winning ways.
The return of Honda saw a tough pre-season for McLaren, with little mileage completed during testing and the team having to run its car conservatively at the opening race of the season. Since then, McLaren has been steadily improving and Jenson Button delivered its first points of 2015 in Monaco. While Boullier says the result in isolation is not one to be celebrated, it does highlight how far the team has come since early March.
“Of course, we can’t be pleased with eighth position, and we’re still a long way behind where we want to be,” Boullier said. “Nonetheless, I’m proud of our progress and the rate of development we’re maintaining, and we’re continuing this push with every grand prix. Although I don’t like to dwell on the past too much, comparing the pre-season tests with our current performance shows just how hard we’ve worked to fight towards the front.”
However, Boullier says the biggest negative for the team has been a lack of reliability in recent races, with China the only round which has seen both cars finish.
“Our more promising performances have been scuppered by frustrating technical issues though, most recently on Fernando [Alonso]’s side of the garage, so we’re working hard to iron these out so that we can really see the potential of both cars and keep developing. We must target improved reliability and consistency in order to achieve our maximum potential.”
Click here for a look back at Robert Kubica's only Formula One victory in Canada
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