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Stoffel Vandoorne has expressed some concern as a difficult winter for McLaren continues. After a troubled opening test, the British team's new Renault-powered car struck more problems in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Some of the blame might be Renault's, with Red Bull also suffering from a battery problem. "This is a normal process," argued Renault's Bob Bell. "We're using all the batteries in testing and choosing the best ones for the rest of the season."
But as images emerged of the 2018 car featuring emergency cooling at the top of the engine cover, McLaren driver Vandoorne admitted some concern. "It's true. It was a very difficult day for us," he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. "We had a lot of technical problems and now we have to find solutions. We have only three days of testing left and we need this preparation for Melbourne."
McLaren boss Eric Boullier insisted he is not "overly concerned" about the problems. When asked if the Renault battery issues at McLaren and Red Bull were a worry, Renault works driver Carlos Sainz admitted: "Of course, and we must carefully study what happened to them. If they are related to the Renault engine, we will deal with them," he added. (GMM)
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
24 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (11)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It was apparently just an oil leak though, and again, thats a common issue during practice. Lets not fetch our pitchforks and canisters quite yet.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
You are right. But still... I don't recall being this mad during winter tests in a long time. When I saw that McLaren stopped again I literally cursed out loud. Still have time to show a bit more, but testing results so far have been disappointing.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I feel a bit torn about this. On one end, I sorta want them to fail, on the other I sorta want them to do well. But either way this baffles me. Despite me growing very VERY tired of the Dennis cycle of bullshitting, all the talk of them being so ready and how the switch hasnt affected them at all, only to get to this... Its beyond me.
michielhimself
Posts: 132
"Dennis"? Ron Dennis has been gone from that team for more than a full year now. I do agree the b.s. cycled stayed behind, surprisingly. Boullier and Brown have done a mighty proper job of keeping that going.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I named them that because he pretty much started this bullshittery on behalf of McLaren (not Renault bullshittery, mind, but you get the concept). Or well, the McLaren Boss Brain Parasite did, but Dennis was the vector that infected Arai, Boullier and now Brown with it.
Bhurt
Posts: 320
Business as usual. Hype themselves up during the off-season. Insist there's nothing to worry about as their car breaks down repeatedly in testing. Makes excuses and/or blames someone else when they suck during the season.
Nothing we haven't seen before.
xoya
Posts: 583
Typical brits.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
The Dennis cycle is very much alive in McLaren...Ironic. IF this continues in-season.... >:)
@XOYA More typical today's McLaren. Say what you want about Williams, but they rarely blame anyone else for their own failures.
ringo
Posts: 3,633
biggest issue of mclaren is the transistion issue to renault. Honda years was not fine but is not simple to transfer to another engine, it takes some races and a season to make the perfect fit
Bhurt
Posts: 320
Toro Rosso doesn't seem to have much problems running the Honda engine that McLaren couldn't run with.
There are some interesting patterns with McLaren as well. They forced Honda to make the engine smaller than they wanted to in order to fit in their "size-zero" car. That didn't work. Now it seems they've squeezed the Renault engine into a car where there's not enough room to cool the engine. Deja vu.
I have no doubt that Honda took a lot of blame for things that were McLaren's fault. They're no longer together now. Honda is doing just fine. McLaren has all kinds of issues. It may be a coincidence I suppose, but I strongly doubt it.
The track even painted the flat bed truck partially papaya to match it's most frequent load!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Early woes are common, but to what extent? Remember, McLaren boasted about them not having been set back in the least by the late change, while Toro Rosso admitted that woes could be expected. Mind, its just testing, but still, who is where now?
Im not sure if correlation means causation in this situation...yet... but its strange how things has turned out. We were so sure that Honda were to blame last year (including me, a Honda freak), but now its not as clean cut.