McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the team’s performance in Hungary was a very encouraging sight as they claimed six important points.
TheWoking-based outfit managed their best qualifying since the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix; both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button made it into Q3.
Although Button suffered a miserable race, Alonso managed to cross the line in seventh to add to McLaren’s championship points total.
Boullier considers the consistency the drivers showed all weekend as a positive and was pleased they were able to achieve the result on merit.
“Despite the drama and poor luck Jenson suffered on Sunday at the Hungaroring, our pace as demonstrated by Fernando was encouraging,” he said.
“Although not as a high a finishing position as last year, we showed form and consistency throughout the weekend, and in a race of very low attrition except Jenson’s unfortunate retirement, we were able to maintain our position on merit and keep our nearest midfield rivals firmly behind us.”
This weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim offers a completely new challenge from Hungary, with the long straights favouring engine performance.
This is likely to hamper McLaren during qualifying and the race, but Boullier insists the team will give everything to maximise their package.
“Now, we head to Hockenheim, which certainly offers a very different challenge to test our package,” he added.
“We are under no illusions that we’ll enjoy the same levels of pace that Fernando could exploit in Hungary, but nevertheless we’ll strive to set-up our package to enable our strengths to shine and outweigh the more difficult elements.
“With the support of the 50,000 plus fans in the stadium section alone, and our usual grit and hard work, we’ll do everything we can to finish the twelfth race of this 21-race season on a positive note.”
