Boullier: "China to expose McLaren weaknesses"

McLaren believes that the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix will show the weaknesses of its MCL32 much more effectively than the opening race of the year in Australia.

Having endured a terrible pre-season testing period, the team performed slightly better than expected in Melbourne; Fernando Alonso ran in the points for most of the race, having qualified 12th, before retiring. Despite this, however, Racing Director Eric Boullier believes that the long straights of the Shanghai circuit will demonstrate the significant lack of power in Honda's engine, suggesting that McLaren is in for a tough weekend.

"Shanghai is known to be an unpredictable weekend for a number of reasons: it's tough on cars, tyres and power units and the weather is often precarious, but I can predict that we won't be as fortuitous with our pace, compared to our rivals, as we were in Australia," he said.

"The characteristics of the Shanghai International Circuit are very different from Melbourne, and its long, fast straights will likely expose the weaknesses in our package more than Albert Park did. However, we will of course attack the race with our usual fighting spirit, and the most important thing will be to ensure reliability with both cars before focusing on performance."

Mason Hawker