Eric Boullier says he would not be satisfied if McLaren merely returns to the podium in 2018. 2015-2017 was a Honda-powered nightmare for the British team, but hopes are higher following the switch to customer Renault engines.
However, McLaren has had early troubles in Barcelona testing, and Renault has begun the new year saying reliability rather than performance is the priority. “Well I can understand Renault,” team boss Boullier told AS newspaper. “They had a difficult end of the year last year, so they had to work on reliability maybe more than Ferrari or Mercedes.”
However, the Frenchman said McLaren is “happy” with Renault so far, especially in contrast to the working relationship with Honda: “Yes, it’s more linear, more agile, more collaborative,” he said.