McLaren endured a torrid home race for engine partner Honda in Japan last time out, failing to score points after finishing a lowly 16th and 18th with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button respectively.
However the team are looking to bounce back this weekend as the Formula 1 circus heads to the United States, a race where Button managed to finish sixth last year, whilst Alonso just missed out on the points in P11 after suffering a first lap puncture.
"It’s no secret that we didn’t achieve the results we were looking for at Suzuka, and since returning from Japan we’ve been working hard to find the appropriate solutions to avoid a continuation of this in Austin," commented team boss Eric Boullier.
"The Circuit of The Americas is a very different challenge in its configuration, so we hope we’ll be able to see improved performance there. However, we mustn’t be complacent, and instead keep fighting hard as we have been all year to get the best out of our package and its strengths as we head into the final back-to-back races of the season."
Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa is looking forward to returning to Austin and believes a strong points finish is a real possibility for the team.
"After an intense Asian round of races, we now head off to the Circuit of The Americas where the racing is tight and we see good overtaking on track, making for interesting racing.
"There is plenty of variation on track with great hard braking corners, an undulating ‘S’ curve and slow twisting turns, so it will be important to us to refine and tune the power unit properly for each of these sectors.
"“McLaren-Honda had good race here last year, and we hope we can do the same to target finishing in the points."
