McLaren taking a leaf out of rivals' book

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is adamant their current troubles won't affect their 2016 campaign, saying they hope to take a leaf out of Ferrari and Mercedes' books.

It has been a disastrous season so far for the Woking-based squad when compared to their usual lofty standards. Instead of fighting for podiums, let alone race victories, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have found themselves scrapping at the backend of the grid.

Most of their problems have been attributed to Honda's inability to produce a reliable and stable power unit as Alonso and Button have suffered several DNFs due to engine related issues.

When asked by the official Formula 1 website when they will be competitive again, Boullier replied: "Difficult to pin it down to a number. If you tell me tomorrow that we can run full downforce then we will be seconds faster.

"We will feel competitive if we can be in Q3 all the time and fighting for top six. That would be a major achievement even if it doesn't sound very exciting, as we are here to win. We still target being competitive by the end of the season."

Alonso has on several occasions said the team will use the rest of the 2015 season for "testing" so that they can be ready for 2016 and Boullier is also confident they will up their game next year.

"We have seen that Ferrari and Mercedes were able to do major steps between their first and second years," the Frenchman said. "We also expect that in our case."

McLaren CEO Ron Dennis recently revealed that the MP4-30 chassis has plenty of pace, but they won't be able to unlock that potential until they have improved the engine, and Boullier agrees.

"It is not completely down to only power - it has also to do with the driveability of the engine, which has proved very difficult and complex to manage so far," he said.

"Let me give you an example: we all have the same power in terms of electrical power, but some engines are doing a better job in recovering the energy. That is why you see a difference in qualifying and the race.

"We are not able today to unlock the full recovery potential because if we do it creates reliability issues - and that hurts us in terms of performance. But it is there! We just have to find the right remedies to unlock it."a