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McLaren F1 struggles worse for Alonso than Vandoorne - Boullier

McLaren Formula 1 racing director Eric Boullier believes the team's current struggles are worse for Fernando Alonso than Stoffel Vandoorne as both drivers languish at the back of the midfield.

McLaren entered 2017 hoping to build on a solid year with engine partner Honda that saw it rise to sixth in the constructors' championship, only for the Japanese manufacturer's redesign of its power unit to backfire and causing a loss in performance and a number of reliability issues.

McLaren enjoyed what Vandoorne called its "best day" of 2017 so far at a test in Bahrain on Wednesday, completing 81 laps without any reliability issues of note.

The lack of performance has been particularly frustrating for Alonso and Vandoorne, both of whom are deemed to be among the finest racers of their generation but are unable to reflect this on-track.

"If you look session by session he had a lot of issues with his car, and he never been in a proper position to be able to extract the best of his car," Boullier said of Vandoorne, who embarks on his first full season in F1 in 2017.

"We watch data lap-by-lap, so we can tell you that yes there are a few times in the first few races when all was working in his car, himself was driving properly. And he was matching Fernando, which is good, or not far from Fernando, at least close enough to show us he is worth putting him in Formula 1. But yes, we need a complete weekend with no issues and a good race."

While time is on Vandoorne's side, given this is his maiden year in F1, Boullier said that Alonso was worse off as a result of the problems, with the Spaniard entering the final few years of his grand prix career.

"I would say so far it's worse for Fernando. Stoffel is new he's got a lot to learn and he's got long term commitment and support from McLaren so he can honestly wait a bit," Boullier said.

"Of course for a day like [Wednesday], it's priceless, you know, but he is learning a lot. It's a lot of laps from him, and not only the laps, we do some back-to-back so we can feel the car moving from one set-up to another, and in terms of experience it's actually 10 times better than the rest." 

Zdroj: crash.net