28/02/2015
NEWS STORY
McLaren boss Eric Boullier has admitted that it could be months before the team's contender is competitive.
Speaking at the conclusion of another difficult day for the Woking team, the Frenchman was keen to play down any hopes of a Red Bull type revival by the time the opening race gets underway in two weeks.
Last year, following a disastrous pre-season campaign, the Austrian team arrived in Melbourne fearing the worst. Whilst both drivers were subsequently disqualified for "fuel system irregularities, Daniel Ricciardo had qualified on the front row and finished the race in the same position. At the following race teammate Sebastian Vettel qualified second and finished third in the race. Though the Red Bulls were never close to the all-conquering Mercedes (who was?), the Austrian team finished runner-up in the championship and Ricciardo scored three victories, the only non-Mercedes driver to stand atop the podium.
At the end of a day when test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen (pictured) could only manage 39 laps, Boullier is expecting so such turnaround in fortunes for his team.
"We won't be as ready as we would like but we will do our best," he told reporters. "Reliability is still a concern clearly and I don't know how long it is going to take.
"We have some plans in place now, which have been drastically improved in both our organisations working together, and I think it is going to take a few races but we should be at least maybe by Europe ready to be more competitive.
"We have covered most of the issues, and most of the systems,” he added. "The positive is everything is working, but reliability is a concern, clearly."
Of course, when he says competitive, there's competitive and there's competitive. Does he mean it will be the start of the European season before the car is capable of taking the fight to the likes of Williams and Ferrari, or is the initial target taking on the midfield?