De Ferran: We are very focused on next year’s car

Zak Brown hired De Ferran to bring a fresh look at a team in crisis, perhaps behind-the-scenes the wheels are in motion to return the once mighty Formula 1 force to the sharp end of proceedings. But for now the report card does not make for good reading.

Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandooren have been extremely restrained when facing media and having to describe their shortcomings in a car that is among the worst if not the worst on the grid this year.

Both leave the sport at the end of the season, the veteran Spaniard simply because his resolve is exhausted and his teammate could not make an impact with the abundance of talent he packed before he stepped into those orange cars, ultimately destroying his career in the top flight.

Asked by Racer what has gone wrong with Formula 1's second most successful team, de Ferran explained, “It’s a variety of things."

"First, I think we needed to gain an understanding of some of the issues that we were having, what was the root cause of these issues. Some of the developments that we have tried didn’t quite work, and then you have to go and understand why that is. And that happened earlier in the year."

“We have brought a few things, but it’s a race of development as well, as you know, so you don’t live in an absolute world in that sense."

“Lastly, I think there is a lot of truth to the fact that we are very focused on next year’s car and trying to make a better car so we can be more competitive. I think the car this year on certain circuits really exposes some of the weaknesses that we have."

“In Singapore, we had a very good race. Fernando for part of the race held fastest lap in a very genuine way, and we finished in what I thought was a very strong seventh position. (But) there are certain circuits that we go to that are very difficult for our current package.”

De Ferran also revealed how McLaren have restructured extensively since the summer, “We have two key directors who are in charge of the technical side of the team — Andrea Stella who’s performance director and Pat Fry as engineering director. We have a huge team. Essentially those are the two guys in charge."

"When Simon [Roberts, COO] is essentially running the team and coordinating all the work, my feeling is it’s working quite well," added the Brazilian.