McLaren has released the first pictures of the MP4-31, ahead what will surely be a critical period of testing for the team and engine partner Honda.
The team now has just a pair of four-day Barcelona test with which to prove that the work done over the winter has improved both performance and reliability.
Ron Dennis stressed that the team is committed to winning but he stopped short of setting any deadlines.
“As we embark on the second year of our renewed McLaren-Honda partnership, all of us remain united in our purpose,” he said. “That purpose is to develop our team towards our shared ambition: to win. We’ll make no predictions as to when those wins will come, but I can say without fear of contradiction that every member of our team has worked with truly relentless dedication over the past few months. The result is that MP4-31’s developmental trajectory has been usefully steepened over the winter, and I’m consequently very proud of our team’s efforts.”
Dennis said once more that the only way to win was as a works team: “We remain resolute in our commitment to our goals, and we maintain an indefatigable commitment to the winning potential of a full works team. Believe me: the full works backing of a multinational automotive manufacturer is the only platform from which real success in modern Formula 1 can be achieved.”
Team principal Eric Boullier stressed the importance of the upcoming tests in setting the team up for the season ahead.
“The guys have shown intense dedication throughout the winter period, and the result is that they’ve successfully kept our aggressive build and development programs on schedule,” said the Frenchman. “As such, all our team members are a credit to McLaren-Honda, and consequently we’re incredibly grateful to everyone involved in the development of the MP4-31.
“But we’re never satisfied, which is why we’ve continued to strengthen our engineering team in recent weeks and months, and we’re confident that the changes we’ve made will improve and accelerate our car-development progress in the future.
“So the two Barcelona tests will merely herald the continuation of the huge collaborative task that all departments have been engaged in during the offseason. We’ll be aiming to spend the four days of the first test carefully and methodically, extracting the maximum from the time available, and concentrating our efforts on proving out our central systems, operational procedures and electronics checks.
“We’ll need to verify our work in the garage before we can expect any miracles on track – essentially, to ensure we walk before we can run.”
Meanwhile Honda F1 boss Yasuhisa Arai noted that the power unit has been totally revamped: “Learning from last year, we’ve made changes to the compressor and other hardware of the power unit during the break, maturing our overall concept from last year. Our focus will be to test the car’s balance with the new chassis and power unit, and specifically the ERS direction, during the eight days of winter testing.”
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