McLaren set for tough start

Eric Boullier admitted today that McLaren enter the 2016 season on the back foot once again.

The British team showed improved form in pre-season testing, but it could hardly have been worse after a dismal 2015.

Technical director Boullier confirmed that they are still a long way off after a stop-start time in the two winter tests though, and will some factors remain an unknown.

"We didn't manage to complete our final configuration and set-up work for the first race, so we go to Melbourne with a number of unknowns,” he said.

"It won't be an easy start to the weekend in that sense, since we'll need to concentrate on setting the car up for each session and readying the final specification of our package as soon as we get to Albert Park.

"Since the final pre-season test, there's been a huge effort back in Woking to bring new parts to Australia and it'll be good to finally get to the track on Friday and see how we fare.

"We are certainly a step ahead of where we were this time last year in terms of preparation.

"We have much more mileage under our belts and we've performed most of the necessary system checks that we were still working on during race weekends in 2015."

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