McLaren-Honda racing director Eric Boullier was “delighted” to see Jenson Button snap the team out of a four-race pointless streak in the Russian Grand Prix, but admits it took a lot of toil.
In the wake of a tough return season for the Japanese manufacturer, the renewed partnership travelled to power track Sochi braced for another tough outing. Yet Button and team-mate Fernando Alonso made the most of an attrition race to claim ninth and 10th, though a post-race penalty would eventually leave the Spaniard on the cusp of the points-paying positions.
“Rarely, if ever, have two world championship points been harder earned or more richly deserved, for Jenson and Fernando both drove the wheels off their MP4-30s here in Sochi today,” said Boullier after Button scored the team's first points since the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“[Sochi Autodrom] isn’t one that suits our car well, and our boys duly found it difficult to defend their positions on the straights in particular.
“But they didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon, finishing ninth and 10th on the road, and I’m delighted that, as a result, we were able to score another points finish, even though sadly Fernando later lost his 10th place in the stewards’ room.”
Besides suffering from recurrent deployment issues – which left Button and Alonso with a 45kph deficit at Sochi – Honda has also struggled to get on top of its reliability woes this year.
Boullier was therefore equally pleased to see both MP4-30s finish the race for the second consecutive time, yet remains aware that his team still faces an uphill battle.
“I’d also like to say ‘well done’ to our friends at Honda, whose power units again performed with commendable reliability.
“We’ve got a lot of work still to do, but the good news is that, together, we’re successfully doing it.
“Next up is the United States Grand Prix at Austin, where we’re hoping to continue making steady progress. We know we’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re getting there.”
Honda should debut its latest power unit update – reportedly worth four tokens – at Circuit of the Americas after Alonso successfully sampled the specification in free practice last Friday.
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