McLaren-Renault preparations spared any last minute drama

McLaren will head to Barcelona next week as well prepared as possible with partner Renault, says Matt Morris, the team's chief engineering officer.

The Woking-based outfit worked diligently into the new year to remain on course for the timely release of its 2018 car, scheduled to be unveiled on February 23, three days before pre-season testing kicks off in Barcelona.

"Some of the things that we've been doing, in particular with Renault means I think we'll be better prepared for that first day in Barcelona than maybe we have been in the past with Honda," Morris said.

"It's always nice to be a little bit further ahead than wherever you are, but in terms of all the sign-off of the car, running it on the back of a Renault engine, we should be going into winter testing in a couple of weeks in as good a state as we can be."

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McLaren confirmed its divorce from Honda mid-September, as well as its new deal with Renault, a late announcement which initially put the team under pressure.

"There were few weeks where it was a bit tight, but since then we've sort of been on a normal programme really [with Renault]," Morris added.

"It's not like we've been playing catch up. We were playing catch up for two weeks to get back onto the normal programme.

"Even if we changed the engine earlier we could have done a lot of things earlier.

"But we try and push it as late as possible anyway, things like the chassis and gearbox layout, so it coincided with the last minute call, 'we really need to release the chassis now, Eric, Zak, can you tell me which engine we're putting in?'

"Luckily they sorted that one just in time!"

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