- McLaren
'Inspired' drivers have made 2014 easier - Boullier
Eric Boullier says Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen deserve full credit for getting the most out of McLaren's MP4-29 this season despite its limited competitiveness.
After both drivers scored a podium in Melbourne 2014 has been a struggle for McLaren, with it only just appearing to move ahead of fellow Mercedes customer Force India in recent races. But Boullier is confident McLaren can finish the season strongly with the upgrades it has coming and believes it has the drivers to do so.
"The first half of the season has shown signs of both promise and disappointment, but, through it all, Jenson and Kevin have each driven some particularly inspired races, made very few mistakes and always extracted the maximum from the package," Boullier said. "Equally, the team has worked hard at both the factory and the racetrack to improve performance - and we're now starting to see those returns.
"Spa and Monza are tracks where every team runs a unique downforce package, so it won't be until Singapore - where we resume with a more conventional set-up - that we'll get a clearer read on our progress, but I think we have reasons to be optimistic. The operational changes we've implemented over the course of the season have taken time to bed-in, but I think we'll certainly see a more pronounced upswing in performance over these final eight races of the year."
Pit wall communication errors hampered both Button and Magnussen in Hungary - when McLaren kept them out on the wrong tyres - and Boullier is confident the team can move on from that in Belgium.
"We had a disappointing race in Hungary to send us into the summer break, but we've analysed the issues we encountered, and we believe we now understand what went wrong. More important, we all head to Belgium feeling positive and refreshed, and incredibly keen to get back to work."
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