“It’s been a pretty productive first day here in Austria. Honda has introduced its Spec 3 power unit upgrade for both cars, and it seems like a fairly useful step in performance, said McLaren’s Eric Boullier about the team’s performance so far.
McLaren has upgraded to Honda’s Spec 3, the latest of its kind, which the team hopes to ride over to better results up the order.
Fernando Alonso came in eighth in second practice, just a tenth behind Kevin Magnussen of Haas, the leader of the midfield following Mercedes, Ferrari as well as Red Bull.
Eric Boullier is pleased with what he is seeing so far.
“Taking the lap-times at face value today, we looked reasonably competitive, despite neither Fernando nor Stoffel [Vandoorne] really feeling that their MCL32s were dialed in properly.”
The racing director is looking forward to an even better performance from the engine as well as car set-up prior to the race on Sunday.
“There’s still a fair amount of work for us to do this evening if we’re to maximize the set-up ahead of qualifying tomorrow, but I feel encouraged that we’re on the front foot and carrying good momentum after the first day of running.”
With a close grid, with the seventh to 15th place separated by less than half a second, Alonso is mindful that a slight increase in performance can make all the difference. The Spaniard is likewise thinks that the weather would be a factor in this weekend’s race.
The Spanish speedster said, “There are seven or eight drivers all within a few tenths of each other – tomorrow, we’ll find out if we’re in the upper or lower part of this group.”
The McLaren driver added, “Finally, the weather looks unstable for both Saturday and Sunday. Unless you’re fighting for the championship, some unexpected rain is always welcome. That can go either way for you, but when you have little to lose it usually works fine.”
