Boullier confident of parity between Renault-powered teams

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McLaren sporting director Eric Boullier says that he has no concerns about receiving equal treatment from Renault in 2018.

The team has just extricated itself from a troubled three-year partnership with Honda. Next season it will be supplied with power units by Renault. As well as its factory team, the manufacturer is also providing engines to Red Bull.

Boullier said he was confident that all three teams will receive the same service. "It’s quite clear in our contract with them," he insisted.

“The parity is the same for everybody and it’s very clear in our contract with Renault," he continued. “I don’t think Renault has any interest to have no parity in the parts."

A string of problems with the Honda power unit meant McLaren claimed only 30 points in this year's constructors championship. Honda will now partner Toro Rosso, who were able to rack up 53 points in 2017 with Renault engines.

Boullier denied that the late change of engine suppliers will put them at a disadvantage to the more established Red Bull and Renault squads.

"Maybe we made the decision to change the engine manufacturer two weeks too late for our schedule," he admitted. "But these two weeks have almost been recovered.

Solidarity prevailed at McLaren during gloomy period - Boullier

“We have to do a better job than any Renault engine team," Boullier replied when asked what McLaren's objectives were for 2018.

"I have learned about the danger of honeymoons," he added with a rueful laugh. "At the start of any relationship you would be foolish to bounce the table before knowing your partner.

"We are now in a ‘get to know each other better’ phase," he sold the official Formula1.com website. "We are building relationships. And I will make sure that the honeymoon lasts longer than the last one."

Inevitably, McLaren won't know for sure until track testing in February whether their gamble to switch from Honda to Renault has paid off.

"We are finishing fine-tuning the organisation," he noted. "To see the car performing at some track, showing the chassis is competitive is the best for the team.

"You simply want to wait as long as possible to make sure that you’ve derived each and every bit of information and data when you start manufacturing," he added. "And I can say: so far, so good!"

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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.