McLaren-Honda Racing Director, Eric Boullier is hoping for a much more successful weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, after the last two races have delivered little in the way of points for the Woking based squad, with driver Jenson Button forced to retire from the Canadian Grand Prix, and Fernando Alonso suffering the same fate in Baku, last time out.
The Spielberg circuit however, is a track more suited to the characteristics of the MP4-31, and Boullier is hoping McLaren will have a much stronger showing in Austria.
“After returning from the last two races without a top 10 finish, our immediate aim is to get back into the points. In Canada, Fernando finished 11th, and Jenson achieved the same result in Azerbaijan, neither of which track best suited our car’s characteristics, so we’ll be hoping to do a little better in Austria this weekend.”
After a number of reliability issues curtailed the squads campaign in both Canada and Azerbaijan, the Frenchman is confident they have been able to find the source of the issue, to prevent it from happening again in future races.
“We also need to address the reliability issues that accounted for one of our cars in each of the last two races. We’ve been worked hard since we got back to Woking to pin-point the problem and try to ensure that there isn’t a recurrence. On a positive note, all four pit-stops conducted by our pit crew in Baku were completed in under 3s, which is an incredible effort.
“Now, though, it’s time to focus on the racing again and everyone at McLaren-Honda relishes that challenge.”
