McLaren hints at 'exciting changes' for 2017 F1 car MCL32

The Woking-based outfit is due to unveil its 2017 car on February 24, and there has been much fanfare about a potential new livery that will incorporate the team's iconic papaya orange colours.

In an interview published on McLaren's website on Thursday, Boullier explained in detail the reasons he was excited - including the team's new structure behind the scenes.

"There will always be changes, and that's the way it always should be," he said.

"As you know, a Formula 1 car itself never stays the same from one race to the next.

"Across the businesses, in fact, we're triggering other changes - and we've got some exciting changes planned for our new car, the MCL32, but we want those to be kept secret until we show it to the world on February 24."

This week it was announced that team manager Dave Redding will be joining Williams later this year, which has prompted a McLaren reshuffle.

"I'm extremely enthused about what we've done, and we'll now go into the new season feeling extremely confident that the new appointments we've made will properly establish themselves within a very short space of time," Boullier said.

Boullier said that Redding's departure for Williams had been discussed for some time, and there was no hesitation from McLaren in promoting chief mechanic Paul James to the new role.

"As McLaren's chief mechanic, Paul is the best in Formula 1 - and that's not merely my opinion, but that of many of my peers at McLaren who've had the opportunity to work up and down the pitlane in many other teams, as I have of course.

"And I see no reason why Taffy - as he's fondly called by everyone inside the team, Welshman that he is - won't perform brilliantly in his new role.

"Owing to the length of Dave's McLaren career, his role has grown and expanded over a number of years.

"By the end of 2016, he was taking on a number of different responsibilities within that role, and we've decided to use this opportunity to load more evenly those duties among other members of the race team.

"So Andrea [Stella] will become our chief point of contact for any interaction we have with the FIA during a race weekend, liaising with Charlie [Whiting] and his team of scrutineers and stewards to ensure compliance and fair play.

"Andrea is a clever, perceptive man, with a fearsome intellect and a really broad focus. I'd describe him as a very precise thinker."

James's switch to team manager means that Kari Lammenranta, former number one mechanic on Fernando Alonso's car, will become chief mechanic, with Marc Cox replacing him.