McLaren aiming to continue steady improvement

40

McLaren's Formula One engineering director Matt Morris is cautiously confident that the team has finally turned the corner after its dismal 2015 season, and that the team will be able to make steady, consistent progress in the remainder of the current season.

"I think in terms of our performance, if you look back at the last 18 months, we’ve been gradually improving against pretty much all our competitors," said Morris.

"Obviously in the last few races we’ve been genuine top ten contenders and therefore the limelight has been on us a little bit more."

A key factor in McLaren's improving fortunes is a closer working relationship with their engine manufacturer Honda. "The team, both Woking and Sakura, are working well together and that’s shown in our recent results," Morris acknowledged.

He added that he was also pleased to see the end of the radio communications ban which Jenson Button fell foul of in Hungary when the McLaren pit wall had to tell him how to fix a brake problem, incurring a drive-thru penalty as a result.

"It was very difficult for us and we just wanted the car to be safe and then it all sort of spiralled into a bit of a mess for us," said Morris. "I think basically the decision [rescinding team radio bans] was the right decision. I think common sense has prevailed."

Button rebounded from that disappointment to finish eighth in Germany, his fifth top ten result in 2016; his team mate Fernando Alonso has also finished in the points on three further occasions including fifth place in Monaco to put McLaren into seventh place in the championship standings with nine races remaining.

Morris feels that the momentum can be maintained for the rest of the season. Even though the team is inevitably increasingly focussed on the development of the new 2017 car, it won't mean they have given up on improving the current MP4-31.

"We have some further plans for upgrades this year, so we hope that those continue our progression and then sort of decide after the break in terms of how much resource we keep on this year’s car and move to next year’s car."

Ocon replaces Haryanto at Manor

Nicolas Carpentiers compares the many versions of the Ferrari steering wheel

Felipe Nasr writes exclusively for F1i about Hungary, Germany and the summer break

Exclusive Marcus Ericsson Q&A

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.