Eric Boullier 'not excited' by McLaren-Honda's first 2017 F1 points
McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says his team's first points finish of the 2017 Formula 1 season in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was morale boosting but did not 'excite' him
Both McLaren-Honda drivers had a reliable race in Baku, with Fernando Alonso scoring with ninth place and Stoffel Vandoorne finishing 12th after an additional pitstop.
"The team did a great job and the drivers did very well to try to get the best out of it," Boullier told Autosport.
"Fernando was obviously in a good position.
"He got excited, and he drove very well. He was really, really on it.
"It was unfortunate that Stoffel had to pit for a flat spot, because he would have been 10th with one point.
"Any points you take is a good reward for the team. This is for me what matters.
"I'm not smiling, I'm not excited, because it's not the reason why I'm racing, and especially not racing with McLaren.
"But mathematically it's good for the team to have some results."
Alonso had run as high as fifth despite a host of grid penalties meaning he started 19th.
But he was quickly passed by cars recovering from other incidents.
He argued that "we should have won" if McLaren-Honda had been properly competitive given the amount of delays for the frontrunners and the fact he had been running with eventual victor Daniel Ricciardo early on.
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