Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren needs to develop 'everywhere'

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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the team needs to develop "everywhere" in order to reach Mercedes' level.

Having been a customer of Mercedes last season, McLaren switched to Honda this year in order to have a works partnership to try and close the gap at the front. Speaking exclusively to F1i, when asked where the team needs to improve to get itself in to a position to challenge for victories and titles again, Boullier replied: “Everywhere, to be honest.

"As far as McLaren is concerned, as you know we are always looking to bring more performance in suspension, in downforce, in vehicle dynamics, everywhere you can improve your car. So until we have the best chassis on the grid we will always chase better. So today we can definitely bring more.

"The philosophy is working, we are happy with what we have, the drivers like the car and how to drive the car, but we still need to bring more downforce. Pure numbers, if you want."

However, Boullier says there is no getting away from the fact the biggest step forward can be delivered from improvements relating to the Honda power unit.

“The most potential in terms of performance is coming from the power unit, not only in terms of power - which is a process which Honda is going through as well, a learning curve - but also in terms of energy recovery efficiency and the way in which we use this energy and deliver it through the electrical MGUs.”

Click here for F1i's report on how each driver performed in the first ten races of the 2015 season

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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.