McLaren seeking to learn lessons from MCL33, says Boullier

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McLaren sporting director Eric Boullier says the team will not get distracted by 2019's newly-agreed forthcoming aerodynamic rule changes.

Boullier believes that the team's focus has to stay firmly fixed on this year's campaign for the time being, and couldn't afford to split its resources this early in the year.

Despite sitting in fifth place in the constructors standings after the first seven races of 2018, the team has been unhappy with the performance of the MCL33.

But with 14 races remaining in the season, Boullier says that there is still much to gain from continuing to develop the current car.

“There's still time to develop this car," he said. "Potentially curing the low-speed lack of grip which has a big impact on top performance.

"[Also] to understand what's wrong and to not repeat any kind of platform mistakes in the future," he added.

"Those are two reasons why we should carry on.

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“We also need to make sure we don't compromise next year's development as well as understanding the car. That's the balance which we are working on.

“We are flat out on trying to cure these car issues, and to make sure we understand it, and obviously we will start soon on next year.”

McLaren recently parted company with its long-time chassis chief Tim Goss, but Bollier said that he didn't expect a wholesale shake-up of staff as a result of the MCL33's underperformance.

“We have 100 per cent confidence in the group of people we have at McLaren," he said.

"We can blame some issues on the car. Definitely I think the car this year is not the car we were expecting to have.

“It's just a matter of understanding why and making sure we have the right vision and leadership for the future.

"I believe in the people we have in place today. There is a great talented bunch at McLaren," he insisted.

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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.