McLaren ready to help Honda recover

On the back of a difficult Canadian Grand Prix weekend, beset by reliability problems and a lack of performance, McLaren and Honda are facing up to the fact that dramatic progress is now needed.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier insists that despite frustrations with the situation they are in, his team must now think about what it can do to ensure Honda can react in the right way.

"It is easy to blame the partner but as a partner we also have to be supportive," he said. "Part of it, it is not in our hands directly, but we are a supporter and need to help them to accelerate this recovery time.

"To be fair, they decided to join Formula 1 two years ago and it is not easy to be here and win.

"We always said we had a mountain to climb, but it looks like it is a very high mountain and we need to make sure we are properly equipped to do it as well."

When asked to specify what can be done to help Honda, Boullier said: "In terms of timing, when you want to catch up you basically have to put more resources on the program.

"If you want to do it short-term you need to bring more experienced resources.

"We have some software, IT, whatever it is now – we have this experience at home so McLaren can actually offer Honda so support in this domain to help them shift resources."

Getting listened to

Boullier also reckons that the disappointing showing in Canada may actually help in allowing Honda to accept that it could need some extra help.

He suggested that there may be more scope for the Japanese company to listen to McLaren's views on what needs to be done.

"Obviously we hope to be listened to more," he said. "They do [listen]. We have discussions every day, and I don't want to go into anything in public.

"But there is some way to improve faster and we should go that path."