Things have taken an early negative turn for McLaren’s new car, as mechanical issues plagued the team’s opening day of pre-season testing. At the end of the day, the car only completed 29 laps of running, the fewest of the day.
Issues presented themselves right from the get go, as an oil system issue during his installation lap sidelined Fernando Alonso for much of the morning. When the afternoon came, the issues didn’t stop. Further mechanical issues resulted in an engine shutdown for the new car, forcing the team to swap out the engine. This allowed him to return to the circuit and perform some laps in the car.
Fernando Alonso says that although the day was disappointing, it’s still too early to assess the performance of the car:
“Obviously today hasn’t been the most perfect start to winter testing, which is a little bit disappointing. We lost a lot of track time which isn’t ideal at pre-season testing, but the situation is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do. It’s important that we learn from it and don’t repeat the same thing, and try to make up some time in the next couple of days.
There’s not much to gauge from the car at the moment after only 29 laps, since the first few laps of any running on the first day consist of installations and the necessary systems checks. I’m looking forward to having a proper day of running and hopefully we’ll then be able to make some more conclusive evaluations.
It’s too early to fully assess the performance and the feeling of the new cars under the new regulations, but at least aesthetically they look much more like Formula 1 cars should look. Let’s wait and see what happens in the next few days, but I’m very motivated and ready for the new challenge.”
Initial investigations conducted by Honda, the team’s power unit supplier, reveal that the issue is likely caused by the new shape of the 2017 oil tank. Further investigations are required in order to fully diagnose the issue, a task that Honda will be performing over the coming days. Eric Boullier would like for the Honda investigation to be completed before drawing any conclusions, saying: “Honda is investigating the problem carefully in order to find the proper solutions, so we need to let them do that before drawing any premature conclusions”.
The new McLaren MCL32 was the second slowest car of the day, ahead of the Sauber, and ran the fewest laps of the day. Stoffel Vandoorne will head out onto the track for his first day of pre-season testing in the new car.
