McLaren-Honda Racing Director Eric Boullier is happy to be back in Europe, after two flyaway races in the 2017 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
With McLaren picking up their first points finish of the season in Azerbaijan, the McLaren boss is hoping to continue their upturn in form as the championship heads to Austria.
“It’s good to get back to Europe and push on with developing our 2017 package,“ said Boullier. “After the excitement and incident of Azerbaijan, I hope that Austria will once again deliver a thrilling race for Formula 1.
“The circuit itself seems to produce good, close racing, and its configuration should certainly suit our car better than the high speeds and long straights of both Montreal, Baku and the forthcoming race at Silverstone.
Looking back to 2016, Boullier reflected on Jenson Button’s impressive performance over the race weekend.
“In fact, we had one of our strongest showings in Austria last year, when Jenson was third in a rain-affected qualifying session and went on to finish a very competitive sixth.
“There’s been no let-up in our development push all season, and, while the result in Azerbaijan was nothing to truly celebrate, it was a sign that we are working well and able to capitalise whenever an opportunity presents itself.
Like Fernando Alonso, Boullier is keen to see what the third specification of the Honda engine brings.
“With a number of improvements planned for the Austrian weekend, not least the proposed new Spec Three power unit upgrade from Honda, I’m hopeful that we’ll be in a position to get amid the other midfield runners and take a useful step forwards.”
