McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier says the team had higher expectations for the first pre-season test of the 2017 Formula 1 season.
The MCL32, featuring a striking new orange and black livery, hit the track for the first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for testing, which took place from Monday to Thursday.
But McLaren suffered a number of issues with Honda’s new power unit during the opening two days and the second half of the test did not go completely to plan either.
Despite completing more running on the final two days, McLaren missed out on completing a lot of laps and Boullier admitted the team had higher hopes for Barcelona.
“It is still early days,” he told the official F1 website. “We had slightly higher expectations coming to Barcelona, but then the week didn’t start exactly as we wanted.
“I think there is a bit more work to be done in Japan to investigate why we had those issues: issues that we absolutely did not expect to have – and for sure neither did Honda.”
He explained that these problems are "new" and "not really serious", with no fundamental issues to do with the engine’s design.
Boullier added that while McLaren's start to 2017 has not been as bad as 2015 or 2016, it is still not where the team wants to be: “In a much better situation.
"But to be frank, it is not good enough for our expectations and the expectations of our fans – after three years.”
The second test takes place from the 7-10 March, again at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.
