McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the team’s performance at the United States Grand Prix showed the strength of the MP4-31 chassis.
After a disappointing qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button enjoyed better fortunes on Sunday.
Alonso put in a feisty drive to fifth place, while Button bounced back from a tough qualifying to finish ninth.
“We saw exciting wheel-to-wheel battles up and down the field all afternoon, many of them involving our drivers,” Boullier said.
“Fernando drove a storming race from 12th on the grid to fifth at the flag, forcing his way through the field with a series of brilliant passing manoeuvres; and if he has a rival for the ‘driver of the day’ accolade, it can only be Jenson, who blasted his way from P19 at the start to P9 at the finish.
“I’m proud of both of them. It was gratifying to see that, despite our disappointing qualifying form, yesterday [Sunday], as we’d hoped and indeed predicted, our race pace was significantly more impressive, allowing our drivers to enjoy themselves enormously.
“You only had to look at the way our car changed direction to see how good its chassis is becoming. I also want to commend our partners Honda, whose power units ran flawlessly all afternoon.”
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