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F1 Hungarian GP: Boullier eager to eliminate McLaren issues after recent dip

Eric Boullier wants McLaren to brush off its recent dip in form at the Hungaroring with a trouble-free weekend to extract the team's full potential at a track that suits the strengths of the MP4-31.

The McLaren-Honda racing director says despite the underwhelming results at Silverstone the team were given a timely momentum boost with a productive two-day in-season test immediately after the British Grand Prix, which Boullier feels the team can use some of the information gather in Hungary even though the two circuits have very different traits.

Boullier is keen to also see McLaren avoid reliability issues and strategical mistakes which have caused the team's downturn in results, having claimed just one points finish over the last four races between Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button (Button's P6 in Austria).

With the Hungaroring's slower and twisty track characteristics making the race less power unit-dependent, Boullier is confident McLaren can emulate its results from 2015 - when the team grabbed its only double points finish of the season.

"We head to the Hungaroring off the back of a positive couple of days testing at Silverstone," Boullier said. "The grand prix weekend was certainly a challenge, but knowing the characteristics of the circuit as we do, we were prepared for a difficult race, although it's still disappointing not to have finished in the points.

"The test, however, was encouraging, and we definitely maximised the track time to collate some valuable data which our engineers in the UK and Japan are putting to good use on the development of the MP4-31.

"Not all will apply directly to the race in Hungary, of course, but we certainly hope that we can align the strengths of our package with the unique nature of the Hungaroring circuit.

"Over the past few races, we've endured some bad luck, made a few small mistakes, and suffered some reliability niggles. But, if we can enjoy a smooth weekend, I'm hopeful we can fulfil the potential that our package has shown at various points throughout the season so far, on both sides of the garage, and secure a result that, statistically, we know we're capable of on this type of circuit."

Zdroj: crash.net