MONTMELO, Spain -- Another day, another reliability problem; but McLaren insists it does not have a fundamental design issue with its new car.
The British team has lost mileage to reliability issues at four of the pre-season's six test days so far and now has just two full days remaining before the first race in Australia. After ditching engine-suppler Honda over the winter and pairing up with Renault for 2018, the pressure is on the team to perform but so far pre-season testing has not gone to plan.
A wheelnut failure limited mileage on the first day of testing before the exhaust fried the wiring loom on the second day thanks to a clip worth £2 breaking at the rear of the car.