McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has confirmed that a turbo issue was to blame for the latest setback encountered by the team.
McLaren has completed the least mileage of any team during this week’s second pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, having also suffered delays last week.
Stoffel Vandoorne stopped three times on Tuesday, twice due to a loss of electrical power and once owing to a hydraulic problem, while an oil leak on Wednesday hampered Fernando Alonso, as an engine change led to a delay of over six hours.
Vandoorne amassed substantial mileage on an encouraging third day of testing, but Alonso stopped on track on only his seventh lap on Friday morning.
McLaren was forced to undertake an engine change, costing Alonso another four hours of running, though he has since returned to the track.
“We had a turbo issue this morning which was related actually to the chassis oil leak we had on Tuesday, a consequence if you want,” said Boullier.
“This is now under investigation. We have changed the power unit, so the car is running now. We try the fastest way to get ready.”
In spite of the setbacks and delays, Boullier stressed that he expects McLaren to emerge as a competitive force from the start of the season in Australia later this month.
“I still believe we will be competitive in Australia,” he said.
“And obviously we have not done all the mileage we wanted so we don’t have all the guarantees or confirmation to answer the questions about our real pace as we still have not done anything to the limit.
“Nevertheless, we had only minor issues which were all different. I think a good rebuild of the car for Australia will help us to fix a few issues.”
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