McLaren’s Eric Boullier believes engine supplier Honda should have attempted to poach some engineers from rival manufacturers in a bid to get a head start, rather than rely solely on its own experience.
McLaren is coming under increasing pressure to up its performance after spending much of the season at the back of the grid.
Whilst improvements are coming – the team had two cars in the points for the first time this season in Hungary – they’re not coming quick enough and there are signs its drivers are growing impatient.
When asked what Honda could have done differently to improve its situation, he told F1i.com: “Honda could have bought some experience from other engine manufacturers and maybe should [have] actually.
“We would recommend it just because to make sure you go faster and you accelerate your development program because they have solutions ready to fix things, or maybe some understanding.”
The Frenchman admits they still have big problems to overcome, but he isn’t writing off the 2015 season altogether as the things they learn this year will serve them well in 2016.
“We know the problem we have, but we maybe don’t know 100 percent how to solve these issues because we need some more research and development on that. We know where we are weak, but it’s not a weakness like we are lacking something, it’s a weakness we can’t use it. So it’s even worse in terms of frustration!
“We have not written off this year because 2016 is an evolution of this year in terms of regulation. For us it’s a two-year plan; we want to be able to unlock this potential at some stage.
“It’s not going to come in one go, it’s going to come in different goes because there are different problems to fix. To try to be competitive at some stage this year would be nice.”
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