McLaren "impatient" in quest to be competitive again in Formula 1

McLaren-Honda reunited for the 2015 F1 season, a quarter of a century after dominating grand prix racing in their first partnership.

But it took five grands prix before the reformed alliance scored a point this year, and McLaren remains only ninth in the constructors' championship despite Fernando Alonso's fifth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Honda started its F1 programme from the ground up and it has tried to avoid hiring experienced personnel from rival manufacturers, something Boullier concedes is a barrier to short-term success.

"Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari switched their resources to the new hybrid technology but their people working there had knowledge of current F1 technology," he told AUTOSPORT.

"Honda decided to recreate an Formula 1 programme for the long term, but starting from scratch.

"Most of the people in Sakura didn't have the experience or even the knowledge of the current F1 technology.

"There is a long process to go through - first get the knowledge, get the experience and build the organisation and the operations, because they started from literally nothing."

Boullier said that meant "discussions" between the two parties over the timescale for getting to the front.

"Sometimes we have to pressure, sometimes we have some frustration, but in the end both wanted to be together," he said.

"We are impatient and we definitely hate to be in this position today.

"But every other Formula 1 team - except Mercedes and Ferrari of course - would dream to have such a partnership when they see how committed Honda is to Formula 1.

"The only discussion point we have today is the timing.

"We want to win tomorrow, they want to win sometime."

He reiterated that too long in the midfield would have a wider commercial impact on McLaren.

"In the end, we have to respect Honda's road map," Boullier said. "But obviously Honda has to respect our needs.

"We are a Formula 1 team and our business model is based on our success.

"We need to be successful and we can't be out of success too long. Honda knows that.

"They have their own reasons and their own road map to go back to Formula 1 which we have to accept.

"The only thing we need to do is make sure the communication channels are open enough that everyone is listening to the others and can adjust a bit to help or to suit each one's strategy."