McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has revealed that the engine running at the first test remains a developmental unit and there are still several rounds of improvements to be made before Honda's Australian GP specification is introduced by the end of the three-test winter schedule.
Our race engines are two or three steps away from where we are now, therefore were still running development engines and will continue to run development engines through to the last test, Dennis told reporters in Spain.
The engine is an integral part of our size zero policy. The car is phenomenally tightly packaged in the back end, which has given huge scope to Peter Prodromou and his team and they have taken full advantage of it.
With the rear of McLarens new car noticeably more sculptured than last years design, Dennis revealed that Hondas engineers had deliberately gone for a particularly tightly-packed power unit and that it was that complexity which had triggered the early teething problems.
The level of detailing and the precision of manufacturer of the components has surpassed any McLaren standards of the past. The elegance of some of the aerodynamic solutions as theyre packaged into suspension, brake ducts are to a level weve never been able to achieve before, as has a lot of the work surrounding the ERS, KERS and the technologies that were using, lauded Dennis.
Some of the technologies that weve introduced into the power train havent existed before. So obviously going into areas that havent been exploited before carries a degree of risk, which we think weve got a handle on.
The problems that were experiencing today are really stemming from the tense packaging that goes on inside the engine. At this moment in time we dont have an exact understanding, but weve got some sensors that arent talking correctly to other parts of the system. Therefore, whilst we can turn them off and circumvent them, this is what testing is about so the guys are disassembling the car again to try and eliminate some short-circuits that are happening on some sensors.
In the limited running weve done nothings overheating, which is normally what happens when you get it wrong on packaging, weve got no burning of heat shields. There is every indication that the mechanical design of the car, packaging wise, has been well executed.