Earlier 2016 calendar impacted work on new McLaren

McLaren operations director Simon Roberts reveals that “a fantastic effort” was needed over Christmas to meet the new, tighter build schedule of the MP4-31.

A late change to the start of the 2016 season, which saw the Australian Grand Prix being moved forward by two weeks to March 20, created a knock-on effect and resulted in an earlier February 22 kickoff for the opening pre-season test.

“Our entire build programme wasn’t lined up for that!” Roberts told the official McLaren website. “So we knew we had a problem to solve. In terms of our design and engineering capacity, it’s a relatively straightforward re-planning exercise – there’s less time to get the work done, so everyone works a bit harder.

“But the build schedule is on a critical path – it needs to pass all the FIA safety tests and be ready for the first test, which was also brought forward. In that situation, you can’t just re-plan, you need to do something different.”

Teams had to wait until early December to see the sport’s governing body officially ratify the new 2016 calendar, which forced them to ramp up efforts over a shorter period of time.

“In simple terms, we put about eight shifts of work back into the programme over a five-day period – a fantastic effort. In total, there were about 110 people involved and we looked after our Christmas workers with a competitive package.

“We had a really good response, and people seemed to enjoy it too – it was a bit weird, not having all the time off, but there was a good spirit in the place. Everyone knew why they were doing it, and it really cleared the decks.

“Most pleasingly, it meant that, once we came back in the New Year, we were back on schedule – and it felt like the programme had always been phased that way. It was an incredible effort.”

McLaren will launch his MP4-31 on February 21, i.e. one day before the start of pre-season testing. While most outfits seemed to have adjusted to the new deadline, Sauber confirmed on Monday that it would roll out its new car only at the second test as it did not want to rush development on the new C35.

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season