McLaren Formula 1 2017 Pre Season Testing – Day One
Monday 27th February 2017
Driver – Fernando Alonso
Location – Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya
Laps – 29
Best Time – 1m24.852
McLaren – Pre Season Testing Day One – Programme
A delayed start to the 2017 testing programme for McLaren-Honda.
After successfully completing an installation lap shortly after the track went green at 09:00 – an anomaly was detected in the power unit which was identified as an oil systems issue.
In order to trace the problem, a full investigation is required so the team elected to change the power unit and examine it further once out of the car.
This meant that the car was unable to run again in the morning session while the team worked to swap the power unit.
Once the power unit had been installed, Fernando was able to return to the track at approximately 16:00 to re-commence the run plan for the day.
In the afternoon session, the team managed to complete 29 laps – focusing on data collection and systems checks, in line with the usual programme for the first day of a test.
McLaren Formula 1 2017 Pre Season Testing – Fernando Alonso 
Here’s what Fernando Alonso had to say –
“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 we don’t repeat the same thing.”
“We will try and 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 consists of installations and the necessary system 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.”
McLaren Formula 1 2017 Pre Season Testing – Eric Boullier
Here’s what Eric Boullier (Racing Director) had to say –
“Of course, it’s disappointing to have encountered issues so early in the running, but this situation is not too unusual with a brand-new car.”
“It’s better to have these issues here, rather than in Australia. Honda is now investigating the problem carefully in order to find the proper solutions so we need to let them do that before drawing any premature conclusions.”
“We had a filming day yesterday which went fine, so today – it’s a little bit of a setback but the team worked hard during the morning session to get the car back up and running as quickly as we could following the power unit change.”
“It’s encouraging that we were able to continue our programme in the afternoon and getting some laps under our belt – that’s the most important thing.”
“It’s the first day, so let’s wait and see – we’ve shown some progress in the past two seasons and I hope we can continue seeing progress this year too.”
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