Formula 1

McLaren’s Eric Boullier: “It’s been a somewhat tricky weekend”

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Fernando Alonso - Credit: McLaren Media Centre

Eric Boullier admitted the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend has been a tricky one for the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 Team after technical issues for both drivers during practice.

Fernando Alonso recovered from stopping in free practice two on Friday and from missing a portion of final practice on Saturday morning to qualify tenth, while Jenson Button also had niggles and struggled with the balance of his car as he qualified seventeenth.

“It’s been a somewhat tricky weekend so far, but we’ve pushed hard to fix our issues,” said Boullier. “Yesterday, we weren’t able to get either car through to the end of FP2; this morning, we had a gearbox sensor issue on Fernando’s car, which delayed him at the start of FP3, then we had to change Jenson’s ISS and ECU after an issue at the very end of this morning’s practice.

“Our engineers and mechanics have done a very solid job of rectifying all the issues and swiftly addressing them, so let’s hope that our problems are now firmly behind us for the remainder of the weekend.

“After showing well yesterday, Jenson couldn’t get the car hooked up today – he was always struggling for a balance, and was mystified by the shortfall in pace. We’ll have a close look at everything tonight to make sure he’s got a better chance in tomorrow’s race.

“Today’s cooler conditions certainly played well for Fernando. He really revelled in the car’s handling this afternoon, pushing it as high as seventh in Q2. Tenth spot is a very good effort.”

Boullier, the Racing Director of the Woking-based team, believes the team can improve on their qualifying performance on Sunday, especially if the promised rain comes.

“With mixed conditions on the radar for tomorrow, we feel we’re set for a stronger performance tomorrow,” finished Boullier.

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