McLaren 'in much better state than 2016'

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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier insists that the team is in a much better position than it has been in previous years.

That's despite a problematic start to its 2017 season campaign, with engine troubles affecting the first two days of pre-season testing.

"[We are] in a much better situation," Boullier told the official Formula One website on Friday. "But to be frank, it is not good enough for our expectations and the expectations of our fans - after three years.

"We had slightly higher expectations coming to Barcelona, but then the week didn’t start exactly as we wanted," he conceded.

"I think there is a bit more work to be done in Japan to investigate why we had those issues: issues that we absolutely did not expect to have - and for sure neither did Honda."

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Boullier confirmed that the problems experienced by the team hasn't been the same ones as last year.

"New issues. It is fixable, but it was not the plan to have these issues. They are not really serious, as there are no fundamental issues with the design.

"What I can say is that I am satisfied with the job we’ve done. I am satisfied with the team that we have now."

The McLaren did finally get up to speed in the latter half of the four-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. However, the MCL32 did appear to continue to struggle for pace and grip.

"We’ve managed a solid couple of days’ running and made good progress, and I’m really proud of the team effort to ensure we could make the most of our track time.

"I hope we can continue this momentum and have a strong week at the next test," concluded Boullier.

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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.