Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Boullier: Alonso only getting better

Eric Boullier says Fernando Alonso will only get better at McLaren as he makes up for a lack of running in pre-season.

The double world champion joined McLaren at the start of this year as he moved from Ferrari, returning to the team he raced for in 2007. However, reliability issues at the start of testing followed by an accident which eventually ruled him out of the first race of the season has left Alonso with limited track time in the MP4-30 and Boullier says he will only improve over the course of the season.

“It’s more he’s inexperienced with the car itself,” Boullier said. “Yes, even if he raced here seven years ago, the team and the people around him are new, so you need some time to click everybody together. But I can tell you I’m very happy with the atmosphere in the team and the way it works now.”

When it was suggested there is more to come from Alonso at McLaren, Boullier replied: “Exactly.”

And speaking about how happy Alonso is at the team following an outburst at Ferrari, Boullier says there are no tensions between McLaren and the Spaniard despite a tough start to the season.

“100% [happy], as he is. People want to make stories between Fernando and us. There are not any, he’s happy, he keeps saying he’s happy, so I don’t know how many times I’m going to repeat it.”

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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.