Boullier: The fight with Force India has awakened McLaren
Eric Boullier acknowledged that the tight fight between Force India and McLaren at the start of the season forced the latter to raise its game.
While Mercedes engines were largely dominating the competition, a hierarchy began to establish itself among the teams equipped with the German hybrid block. In this game, at the start of the season, and despite a double podium in Australia, McLaren was not the best placed, being notably beaten by the surprising Force India.
If this situation must have delighted a vengeful Sergio Pérez, dismissed by McLaren and on the podium of the Bahrain Grand Prix with Force India, it had the opposite effect on the Woking men who received a wake-up call, as confirmed by Eric Boullier, competition director at the grays, to our colleagues at Autosport: « Being behind Force India was a concern and a wake-up call for everyone. We weren’t exactly on equal footing with Mercedes, but we couldn’t complain because we had the best engine. It’s easier when you know that your aerodynamics and wind tunnel are not working and you’ve found the problem with your car. When it concerns more the culture, procedures, and leadership, then it becomes less easy to find the problem. It takes a lot of work, it’s difficult to understand what the issue is and how to get everybody on the same path. I think we have succeeded in this, so we are more efficient, and I think everyone at McLaren understands what happened, which is important so as not to repeat the same mistakes. »
Despite all the functional restructuring undertaken this year, Eric Boullier remains aware of McLaren’s actual level of competitiveness this year and knows that his team has been lucky: “We were perhaps the sixth fastest team at the beginning of the year and we are now the third, which means we have improved. My goal at the end of the season was to be around 95% of the desired restructuring. And that’s what happened.”
From now on, the new partnership with Honda can start on a good footing in 2015, with two fast and experienced drivers, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, surrounded by a solid technical team: « All objectives have been met and we can transition with Honda smoothly. It’s not easy to manage because there will be another car and a different concept, and we have had new people joining us. We know where we want to go, so I think things seem in place for 2015. »
