McLaren racing director Eric Boullier claims Honda's power unit has made its chassis look bad, but it is in fact far better than it may appear.
Last year Boullier often claimed that McLaren's chassis was third best on the grid, but an underpowered engine was to blame for their lack of results.
The Frenchman made similar claims during the first week of pre-season testing, contrary to comments in the media that claimed it looked nervous in certain high-speed corners, particularly the first sector at Barcelona, which is an indicator of a chassis issue.
Boullier however dismissed those claims as "fake news", instead laying the blame at the feet of engine supplier Honda, as running an underpowered engine, which also has power delivery issues, has a detrimental affect on handling.
"I read some comments and they are a bit like Trump 'fake news' – some comments about [handling in] turns one, two and three – because it is not only the chassis.
"Remember these engines are hybrid engines, which means when you are very early back on throttle you have electrical power which is on/off. And then you have a turbo as well at the back – so depending on your driveability you also may have some issues.
"We had some driveability issues, which means when you are back on the power you lose the back of the car so the car looks nervous. But there is nothing wrong.
"Driveability issues, old tyres, let's say, warming up the tyres is not good enough. But still the car spec here is launch-spec, we do try little bits, but we will not run the full-spec. The full-spec will be run in Australia."
