After an up and down testing program, McLaren are confident all issues have been solved ahead of the season in Australia.
Eric Boullier has said that in Spain, the team are on top of the issues that have been plagued in Barcelona and are ready for the Australian Grand Prix. After three wild seasons with Honda as their power unit provider, the switch to Renault got off to a tricky start for the British team as a variety of issues, McLaren had the least amount of mileage or any team up and down the pitlane.
The McLaren racing director insists that ahead of the first race of the season, the Woking-based team are completely prepared and that any reliability issues have been resolved.
"We did not have the reliability we had hoped for in winter testing, but all the issues we have faced have been addressed at the factory.
"There is a huge amount of work that we leave no stone unturned in our quest to extract the maximum pace we can get from our new package from the first race." Said Boullier.
Although the time was set on hyper soft tires, Fernando Alonso did record the third fastest time in testing with a 1: 17,784, putting McLaren behind only Ferrari on the timesheets. He also commented that the car has a lot of potential for the start of the 2018 season.
"Our car showed a lot of potential in winter testing and, although we know we still have a lot to work on, we've already learned about the package and how we can do it all together."
"Australia is its first real test, and we need to work hard all weekend to bring all the ingredients together.
"Nobody can ever predict how other teams will contribute to the excitement."
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