McLaren team principal Eric Boullier has admitted that the midfield battle will be very tough this year, as the Woking-based team prepare for Sunday's special race in Bahrain.
It is a special race for McLaren, at least, as Boullier explains.
“It’s our second home due to the team’s ownership and we always receive a fantastic welcome from our Bahraini hosts."
After that (very media-trained) answer, Boullier analyzed this Sunday's race in comparison to next week's race in China.
"The back-to-back races of Bahrain and China pose very different challenges, and, given the most of our personnel don’t travel back to the UK between them, both logistics and car development are two tricky issues that everyone needs to get on top of."
"Speaking of which [car developmenet], we're currently working to bring new upgrades to next two Grands Prix so the boys can but up a good fight."
Both Alonso and Vandoorne weren't able to make it into Q3, both in Melbourne and in Bahrain, which confirms how strong the midfield is this year, says Boullier.
“We can’t take anything for granted and we know that despite a stronger performance than we’ve seen in recent months, we also benefitted from circumstances around us."
“The result at Albert Park was a boost that we all needed, but now we must move on, look firmly ahead and keep pushing forward.”
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