Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren won’t change MP4-30 architecture

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McLaren will only make “relatively easy changes” to the MP4-30 over the next two tests after being happy with the early signs from the car at Jerez.

The new McLaren-Honda completed just 79 laps across the opening four days of pre-season testing due to power unit issues, but the team is confident of more significant running at Barcelona next week. While Honda will update the power unit throughout the next two tests, engineering director Matt Morris says the limited mileage still allowed McLaren to gather enough data to be encouraged that the tightly-packaged car works as expected.

“The main car architecture works,” Morris said. “So we’ve obviously got this super-tight rear end which works, so structurally and systems-wise we don’t plan on making any changes.

“The changes that we will make will be relatively easy changes; bodywork, wings, floor, those sorts of changes. So we’ve got those planned for the next couple of tests and then we’ll go in to Melbourne.”

And Morris says there is no rush to get the Honda power unit running at 100% during the tests, with the main focus remaining the first race of the season.

“They’ve basically got upgrades every day at every test really. Obviously we’ve got a target of Melbourne and we’ll get there as soon as we can. There’s no concerns that we won’t get there, it’s just a case of taking everything step-by-step really."

Feature: A closer look at the McLaren MP4-30

Click here for the full final day gallery from the Jerez test

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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.