Stoffel Vandoorne insists McLaren can still correlate its chassis gains, despite the engine deficit it faces due to ongoing problems with power unit supplier Honda.
McLaren has endured a dismal start to the 2017 campaign, with neither Vandoorne nor Fernando Alonso having scored a point, amid a lack of reliability and performance.
McLaren, as with many teams, has brought a raft of updates to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and the Belgian says gains can still be made despite the power deficit.
“It’s still noticeable, when you put new parts on the car,” he said.
“I think generally we’ve done a very good job at correlating them well and they’ve usually delivered very well.
“This is one of the bigger upgrades we’re going to have, hopefully they deliver as well, still we should be able to feel the difference.
“We need to validate how good they actually are, we bring quite a lot [of new parts], which is positive, so hopefully we’ll see it on track tomorrow.”
Vandoorne is hopeful McLaren can demonstrate superior pace compared to its performance in Russia, due to the reduced reliance on power in Spain, but moved to play down expectations.
“I don’t really think we want to set ourselves any targets,” he commented.
“We know it’s been a difficult start to the season for us but maybe this track is giving us a bit more opportunity, it’s bit less power sensitive and a bit more aero focused.
“So hopefully we can see some benefits, but for our situation it’s wrong to set ourselves any targets.”
