Eric Boullier admits it will be hard for McLaren to repeat its double points finish from Austin at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso placed fifth in last Sunday’s race with a charging drive at COTA, while fellow world champion Jenson Button made it two MP4-31s in the top 10 for the second time in three races after Sepang.
McLaren-Honda had endured one of its toughest race weekends of 2015 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with both drivers hampered by poor engine reliability and performance around the high-altitude venue.
“We head to Mexico buoyed by a positive result at the Circuit of The Americas,” Boullier said.
“Achieving a similar result to Austin at this circuit will be no mean feat. It’s a tough track for the chassis due to the high average speeds and big braking zones, and it makes the power unit – particularly the turbocharger – work harder than normal because of the high altitude.
“It will be interesting to see how our improving package fares on this challenging configuration, and I hope we can bring all of the elements together to see a more promising performance there than we managed last year.”
Alonso's 2015 Mexican GP lasted less than a lap before the Spaniard retired with a loss of power. Button, for his part, struggled from last on the grid to only head the Manors in a contest he described as “painful”.
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