McLaren racing director Eric Boullier sees the development of the McLaren MP4-29 chassis this season as a “laboratory” for the McLaren-Honda chassis that’ll be raced next season.
The beginning of McLaren’s works partnership with Honda next year will mean that the Woking-based team part ways with Mercedes-Benz completely after their 20 year association, with the relationship between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren having been subsided to an engine partnership after Mercedes purchased the Brawn GP team after the 2009 season and McLaren needing to seek major support from elsewhere in the dawn of a new era with more emphasis on engines.
Boullier insists that there is no reason for the team to discontinue the development of this year’s car despite the arrival of Honda and the widely-known impact it would have on overall chassis design as a result of having a different engine.
“We are developing the car and we are going to keep developing the car for a long time, actually. Most of the upgrades from this car will be carried over to next year’s car so that’s why we are using this car as a laboratory for next year.” explained Boullier. Also adding that “if you remember the regulations, the pick-up points are the same for chassis and gearbox.”
He also confirmed that “significant” upgrade packages are to be brought to Spa and Singapore while questioned further about the effects of the Honda-powered car next year.
