McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier says the team’s double points finish in Australia came as a “relief”, considering the problems it suffered during pre-season testing.
McLaren completed the least mileage of any team across the eight days of testing amid a sequence of reliability issues with its MCL33.
McLaren arrived in Australia confident that its problems had been addressed, only to suffer a further setback when an exhaust problem compromised running in the opening practice session.
However, from there McLaren’s weekend improved, with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne qualifying in 11th and 12th respectively, before going on to grab points in the race.
Alonso rose to fifth position, marking the team’s best result since 2016, while Vandoorne finished in ninth.
“We knew we had some potential and further speed to unlock from the car,” said Boullier.
“We took every chance we could and both drivers drove superbly. We showed good pace, enjoyed some good fights, and we completed two decent pit stops which helped us keep our strategy on track.
“We’re encouraged by the potential our car has shown in the first race of the season, [and] also reliability-wise we had a trouble-free weekend, which is a relief after the issues we had in winter testing.
“It’s all thanks to a huge amount of hard work from everyone in the team, who have done a remarkable job since Barcelona.”
Boullier added that McLaren can now set its sights on closing the gap to fellow Renault-powered operation Red Bull.
“Now we need to keep pushing, and work on readying the upgrades we have in the pipeline as soon as possible,” he said.
“Our priority is to get closer to our nearest competitors in front, especially those who have the same engine in the back of their car.”
McLaren’s haul of 12 points means it holds fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship.
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