Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Circuit de Catalunya, 2018

Boullier explains turbo problem behind McLaren’s latest stoppage

2018 F1 season

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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier explained the turbo problem which caused another stoppage for the team on the final day of pre-season testing.

“During the servicing last night they found a problem with the turbo so they put the turbo back from Tuesday on this engine last night,” he said.

Esteban Ocon, Force India, Circuit de Catalunya, 2018
Pictures: 2018 pre-season F1 testing day eight
“We had a turbo issue this morning which was related to the the chassis oil leak we had on Tuesday,” Boullier added. “This is now under investigation. We have changed the [power unit] so the car is running now which was the fastest way to get ready.”

The team has previously been delayed by electrical problems and has completed fewer laps than any of its rivals so far.

Boullier said the team had been “ambitious” with its design but insisted the problem it has had so far have been minor.

“We want to be competitive, we have an ambitious design around the car,” he said. “You can see the car is different from the other Renault-engined cars.”

“So far we have minor issues but I think that was because we didn’t do a good job enough to prepare the car. We were a little bit stretched in terms of lead time and delay but these are our issues. I think very quickly we’re going to get back to normal.”

“We did a race simulation yesterday without any issues. We are running now and there is no issues any more. We have adjusted our cooling and so far it works,” he added.

Boullier also addressed a video which circulated yesterday showing a shambolic McLaren pit stop. “We did eight pit stops live yesterday, seven was good, one was wrong,” he said. “I’m going to refer to the seven good.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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17 comments on “Boullier explains turbo problem behind McLaren’s latest stoppage”

  1. So, the Maca continues to eat engines?

  2. Seems like they’ve gone for size zero again..

  3. The only good news for McLaren is, they have direct benchmark, with RedBull and Renault teams and get Renault support to fix any cooling design issue. With Honda they were stuck with some guessing and some team members could just point fingers to Honda.
    The bad news is, they have direct benchmark…

    1. Well, today they did more laps than both other Renault teams and they were quicker too.

    2. @nicotexas This is no bad news, it’s the best gift they could do to themselves. And now with the late fast lap of Alonso, they are maybe not is such a bad state as we thought. I hope so at least.

      1. that time doesn’t mean anything, I think they will be behind Merc, Ferrari and RB, most likely Renault and probably Force India

      2. He cut a corner ;)
        Something McL seems to do a lot the last few years..

        1. He cut a corner but then posted the second fastest lap today. Also Toro Rosso just admitted that they used a brand new engine every day last week and have used 1-2 this week’s test. So out of 8 days of testing they have used 5 engines. Not so much progress by Honda.

          1. Get your facts right. Toro Rosso admits to using 3 engine for the 2 test. 2 last week and one this week as “Planned”.

            And to compare Mclaren to Toro Rosso is kinda idiotic isn’t it? A Triple-A team being compare to a RB B-Team. Compare them to RBR then they would be even more humiliated..

          2. At least none of those engines gave up during the day. Encouraging signs

        2. @seth-space
          He cut a corner on a different lap, which was therefore deleted. His lap time of 1:17.8, however, was valid.

      3. Well, I should have said, they are out of excuses, rather they have direct benchmark.

        I really wish them to do well, and be back up in at least the podium fight. This is going to be challenging but this is possible if all goes right. Unfortunately, right now not all is going right, so a bit more challenging and they could be up by the end of the season.

        Anyway, another good news is it seems the car is relatively fast and this is a better place than having a slow reliable car. I think having a fast car with reliability issue is “easier” to fix than the other way around.

  4. Yes, the McLaren is definitely “different” than the other Renault powered cars; it’s always breaking down.

    1. Just turn his two sentences and look: the story explained

      “ we didn’t do a good job enough to prepare the car.
      You can see the car is different from the other Renault-engined cars.”

  5. McLaren yet again jumps into a super over engineered unique solution based on fallacies. I wonder if the design team goes for such endeavours just to feel like they’re trying.

  6. McLaren yet again jumps into a super over engineered unique solution

    The only problem is that nothing on the McLaren are super engineering solutions or unique in anyway. Red bull has gone with more compact side pods in their cooling solution, and have a far more neatly packaged car. Ferrari are really unique in their cooling solutions and their design, innovation and packaging seems like a far more impressive than McLaren. Mercedes…. well… are Mercedes.

    It almost seems like their engineers are not really providing the level of uniqueness or innovativeness that comes with a certain degree of risk.

    1. I think the initial simplicity of the McLaren design hides the underlying complexity. The Air box for example is tiny compared to the other teams. There is also a lot of detail in front of the side pods and then there is the rear suspension.

      We will see if these are effective when the season starts.

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