McLaren expect a better weekend in Bahrain and an even better weekend at the following event in Spain, as it’s expected Honda will take some big steps forward with its power unit.
Following a trouble-free weekend in China where both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were able to finish and even battle with the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado, Honda will turn the power unit up at the next race in response, according to racing director Eric Boullier.
“There was a major step in terms of the reliability package this weekend [in China] so there’s no issue,” Boullier told F1i. “This is a good achievement, and now we know we can power up the engine.”
Whilst that should help McLaren to escape Q1 for the first time, it still isn’t enough to get them to where they want and need to be.
Whilst refusing to set any timescales, Boullier is confident the return to Europe will see a major step forward as Honda will introduce an upgraded engine alongside new aero parts.
“In Barcelona we have another spec coming, we keep going and improving every race,” he explained.
“I’m not setting any dates [to get to the front] because every race we bring improvements. The potential of the engine we know is quite high, they have been quite ambitious. We keep repeating it but if you want to beat Mercedes you have to be better than them.
“So we know there is some potential in the engine, there will be a push for the European campaign and even on the car itself we have another strong aerodynamic package coming in Barcelona.”
