Boullier: Saturday a "mixed bag" for McLaren

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says his drivers were affected by traffic in qualifying but believes that there is more to come from their car.

Both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne just missed out of Q3, finishing 11th and 12th in Q2 respectively.

They will both be boosted up a place after Valtteri Bottas’ five-place grid penalty.

Boullier said: “Q2 was already proof of what we expected from winter testing – just how close the midfield pack is in 2018 – and we knew it would be a challenge.

“Both drivers were affected by traffic on a busy track, but also weren’t able to get the most out of the car today. We know from our analysis that there is more performance to be unlocked, and there was potential to be higher up on the starting grid tomorrow.

“On one hand, we know there’s more to come from our package that we couldn’t maximise today, and in some ways we were hoping for more.

“However, on the other hand, we’re encouraged by how far we’ve already come over the winter period.

“Now, the important thing is that we extract everything we have in tomorrow’s race, where our pace in long runs is what matters most.

“If conditions are dry, we have the benefit of free tyre choice, and we’ll use that to our advantage as much as possible on Sunday afternoon.”