McLaren chief Eric Boullier is wary that this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix will provide greater exposure of the team's current weaknesses compared to the season-opening round in Australia.
McLaren-Honda has been hampered by unreliability and underperformance so far in 2017, with Stoffel Vandoorne finishing as the final classified runner in Australia, as Fernando Alonso dropped out late on, having battled on the fringes of the top 10.
Boullier is wary that the demands of the Shanghai circuit, home to the Chinese Grand Prix, provide sterner challenges to the operation as it bids to extract the maximum from the MCL32.
“Shanghai is known to be an unpredictable weekend for a number of reasons: it’s tough on cars, tyres and power units and the weather is often precarious,” he said.
“But I can predict that we won’t be as fortuitous with our pace, compared to our rivals, as we were in Australia.
“The characteristics of Shanghai are very different from Melbourne, and its long, fast straights will likely expose the weaknesses in our package more than Albert Park did.
“However, we will of course attack the race with our usual fighting spirit, and the most important thing will be to ensure reliability with both cars before focusing on performance.”
Boullier’s comments were echoed by Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa.
“Although the season opener in Australia was a tough race weekend for us, it allowed us to judge our current position on track,” he said.
“There were both positives and negatives to take away. We were able to confirm certain reliabilities on our power unit, but we also know that we still have room for improvement when it comes to performance.
“We expect the Chinese Grand Prix to be even more challenging.”
McLaren has not taken a top 10 finish in China since 2013.
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