Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Boullier confident McLaren set for mileage

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is confident the team will complete much more mileage on the third day of testing at Jerez.

Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button managed just six laps each on the opening two days of the first pre-season test due to issues with the new Honda power unit. After a long spell in the garage late on day two, Button returned to the track late in the day after a heavy downpour and Boullier told F1i it was a lap which showed the team it has a car ready to run in anger.

"The last lap [yesterday], even if the track was wet, we were reassured that we have resolved the problem," Boullier said.

"When one problem was solved, another arose as a result, but now we think we have done the trick. Fernando will resume driving [today] to really start our program, but we are realistic and the car is so radical that we expected some problems at first. This is what pre-season testing is for.”

Alonso takes over driving duties on day three with Button set to close out the test for McLaren on Wednesday.

Follow Jerez testing live here

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.