Analysis: Why McLaren had to 'trash' its old culture

Much of that work has been completed by racing director Eric Boullier, who was drafted in from Lotus at the start of 2014 with the mandate to do whatever it takes to get McLaren back on the top step.

His job is clearly not finished yet but, with Honda making rapid progress, and all new rules potentially making things more open for next year, it is essential the team has the right structure in place to make the most of opportunities that could be just around the corner.

And he is convinced that McLaren is now not very far away from being the team it needs to be to deliver on its ambitions.

A racing mindset

Outside of McLaren it is hard to see the extent of the changes that have taken place, but Boullier says one of the key aspects was in getting the team's 'racing' mindset back again.

“The key I think was to bring some racing leadership back in the system,” Boullier told Motorsport.com.

“McLaren is a top organisation, obviously with a lot of brilliant people, which still was perhaps too much engineering rather than racing, so that is why I think they were missing some racing leadership – and simplification.

“The old structure worked in the past, so I am not criticising anything or anybody. But I think the current regulations since 2009 has favoured a steady development rather than a radical development.

“We know the reputation of McLaren to be able to recover from a shitty car to a winning car in one year, but those days are now finished because the regulations are so restricted everywhere, in terms of aero development, and system development.

"Everybody has a limitation, so it is the same for everybody. That means you now have to be steady.

“That is the first thing we changed when I joined, and we were in agreement with Pete [Prodromou] on this: to change the philosophy but define a winning philosophy which now can develop over years, like Mercedes and Red Bull did.

“So that is why we started from a white sheet of paper a year ago, with a new car concept, a new engine partner and this is where the challenge was.”

Co-operation

One of the key things that Boullier thinks happened at McLaren was in getting the different parts of the organisation to better work together.

Being more specific, it has been about getting the factory and the race team better understanding what each other needs.

“The thing was to recruit some key people and put them in the right place in the organisation,” he said.

“We basically trashed the old system and built a new very simplistic organisation where communication is key and where people are talking to each other very fast.

“The key was to rebalance the organisation - and not have a strong creative pool of engineers, a poor delivery system and a race team that was not allowed to voice their concern or feedback. That is what we did.

“So we rebuilt an organisation that is communicating with each other, and pragmatically delivering what we need.”

He added: “I remember when we joined, I was told it would take seven weeks to make a front wing. I said the others are doing it in five-and-a-half, so we have to do it in five-and-a-half or even five. 

“The old way of racing, you have an upgrade, you build enough spares and you go racing. We don't do that any more. 

"We upgrade every race, as you cannot keep up with the pace if you keep the old system. So the new methods are to bring developments every race and to use the previous updates as spares. This is the only way to catch up.”

'New' McLaren ready

Although McLaren's ultimate performance on track is very much dependent on what Honda can deliver, Boullier says that the team will be ready to pounce if it gets that horsepower lift.

“I think the 'new' McLaren has a working atmosphere that is remarkable and an ethic that is remarkable. Everyone is frustrated to not have results on track but now the world can see the progress

“We know we were progressing, but now you can see it and we are catching up. It means we are doing a better job than the others and that is the best reward I can give back to the McLaren people.”

He added: “We have a couple of new people joining us in the next months who are the final touches to the organisation, but definitely we don't want to distract or disturb this momentum – we have people from Red Bull and from Ferrari and from Lotus who have integrated at McLaren.

“We are happy to keep the DNA of McLaren, so there has been a reshuffle but without blood. And people are happy to work together and now working hard.

“So it is now just a question of time. Honda – the momentum now has reached Honda and the situation is wait and see and enjoy.”

Closing the gap

But of course the tricky issue is just what Honda can do – for it is worth little to McLaren if it has one of the best chassis but no power to push it around the track.

When asked if he felt the gap to manufacturers Honda and Ferrari could be closed in the short term, Boullier said: “We can.

“I think we have a lot of tokens we can use this year which we will use with one purpose. At the same time now, there is some work to be done on 2017 and I think there is some technology which can be used in next year's engine that is similar to Ferrari to allow us to step up.”