24/06/2018
NEWS STORY
Whether one might refer to McLaren as a team in crisis or not is debatable, but it's fair to say that the Woking outfit is currently going through a difficult period.
Clearly, the switch from Honda to Renault hasn't solved the on-track problems, while an ever increasing team of experts hasn't resulted in any noticeable gaps being filled on the papaya cars with sponsors decals.
Then, in a week in which the atmosphere within the team has been described as "toxic" and the management as "clueless", in addition to the ridicule of Freddo-gate, not to mention the team being unable to trace the root of its aero issues in the windtunnel, both drivers fail to make it into Q2.
Whether it's fair that Eric Boullier has been singled out or not, at Friday's press conference, despite the jokes about Freddo, the Frenchman was clearly a man under pressure.
Speaking to reporters in the wake of yesterday's qualifying disaster, McLaren CEO Zak Brown gave his support to Boullier, but those familiar with politics or football may interpret that support somewhat differently.
"Eric is a valued member of the team," said the American. "Clearly we have to identify why we've missed this year's aero and the development of the car."
Asked if the Frenchman will continue in his role until the end of the season, the journalist behind the Freddo story having claimed that Boullier could be dropped by Silverstone, Brown further muddied the waters.
"I can confirm that everybody on the race team will be in Abu Dhabi," he said.
Asked if any management changes are in the pipeline he added: "I'm not going to get into any personnel changes as a race team of 700 to 800 people."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Paul Ricard, here.