Eric Boullier is adamant that both his team and Honda are working as hard as possible towards finding a solution to their performance woes.
McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team has failed to enjoy a single weekend this year as either one or both sides of the garage has suffered with reliability issues. But since a positive second day of testing in Bahrain, both outfits have been confident that some of their troubles are behind them.
The goal this weekend will be for both cars to see the chequered flag despite achieving a double points haul in Sochi last season.
“The past few races for us have been more unpredictable than we had hoped or imagined,” he said. “We haven’t yet managed to put together a trouble-free weekend on either side of the garage, which is the first step in order to be able to work on performance.
“Honda are working hard to find solutions to the MGU-H issue we have been suffering with, and on the McLaren side it’s important we make sure all of our operational processes and procedures are bulletproof all the way down the line, so that we can at least see the chequered flag with both cars.”
In order to build upon their turn of fortunes and maintain this momentum, McLaren are arriving at the Russian Grand Prix armed with new updates for the car. The drivers have already spoken of how good the car is feeling, and Boullier is hoping that the new parts will prove even more beneficial.
“Following the test, we’re working hard on bringing more new parts to Sochi, and chassis-wise we are confident in the development path we are taking and constantly working to find extra performance wherever we can,” he continued.
“Both drivers report positively on the feeling inside the car, so it’s important we continue to build on this as the season progresses.”
If McLaren can enjoy a trouble-free start to the weekend during practice and bolster the data gathered last week, then perhaps they can preserve the good reliability of testing and be more competitive than their recent achievements has suggested.
“As we head to the Sochi Autodrom for the fourth time, we need to focus primarily on pulling together a smooth weekend in every session, which is the only way we’ll be able to see a representative performance from both drivers in the MCL32 on track,” he added.
“The Russian Grand Prix has so far shown itself to be a closely-fought race, and I hope we’ll have the opportunity to be in the mix.”
