McLaren at 'higher risk of failure'

McLaren sporting director Eric Boullier concedes Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne are at "a higher risk of failure" early in the new season after the team's struggles with reliability in testing. McLaren finished bottom of the lap chart as they struggle to implement their new Renault power units smoothly.

After three wretched years in partnership with Honda, McLaren have put their lot in with Renault in 2018, and enjoyed a upturn in power - Alonso put in the third-quickest lap overall.

But they only managed 611 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya as the car suffered numerous breakdowns. By comparison, Mercedes did not suffer a single breakdown on track and completed 1040 laps.

Boullier accepts that their various mechanical failings mean McLaren could be at risk at the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.

"Obviously we have not run as much as we wanted, so there will be a higher risk of failure somewhere," Boullier said.

"Nevertheless, we had only minor issues which were all different.

"I think a good rebuild of the car for Australia will help us to fix a few issues."

McLaren have routinely expressed confidence that their reliability issues are minor and that the team remains confident of fighting for podiums, and possibly wins, in 2018.

"[You can't] judge based on a few issues on three days, it's better to wait a few races," Boullier said.

"The last three years was a difficult context. We are now trying to get McLaren back where it should be. Like anything, you don't do it in one day. There are maybe a few glitches.

"We have not lost our capability of designing fast cars, and I hope you will see it on-track soon. We have to be ambitious.

"That's also why to be ambitious we have to take risks. We need to put everything back together and are working together."