it's refreshing to see so much positivity all round from the team/drivers, the car itself on track (respectable top speeds and sector times despite not even chasing performance yet!) this forum/its members, even key journalists... brilliant stuff, massively rewarding after last years rigmarole
it's nice reading this thread and seeing peoples' views/speculations - the McLaren swingometer is surely at its highest point for years! we must keep our current expectations check though and keep our heads below the clouds until we really see how they do when running in anger against competitors. however, what we can say is that it's a dead-cert we won't be often trundinling round in the second-from-last positions anymore 
so many times better than last year. McLaren Honda appears to have done a great job so far, the both of them on their respective duties - i'll stop short of being too excited just yet - but if they pull off what it looks like they have and they believe they can by Aus, then it's a recovery of the like that has probably never been seen in F1 and would make last year so worth the pain
'from zero to hero' and all that!
EDIT: it's also great how pragmatic the team are being with their approach rather than chasing times. and also really good to learn they're developing quali modes!!!
Lemans, on 02 Mar 2016 - 20:01, said:
You know they've done well because it's awfully quiet in here.
feels so good! hopefully this year we won't need the anti-pest spray you mentioned to keep them away and the performance itself will hopefully be enough
! i don't think any of us will miss oetzi's constant and relentless hacking, prodding and irritating(ness?)
! and maybe he'll even finally admit that McLaren can make a good chassis (or most likely go quiet and pretend he didn't say the things he did last year
)
oh, and that irritating doomsayer Gary Anderson will hopefully eat his sour words too! last year he was talking such crap, essentially dismissing McLaren Honda from ever becoming a force. i don't care to recite the bile he spouted, i've better things to do, but i'm sure you all remember his unfounded bias and negativity as much as me. even as recently last week he did a 'where teams stand' report, crapped all over McLaren, put them in 9th position (out of 10) and said we'll struggle again - when really, he had almost nothing to go on to come to that conclusion, just pure negative speculation and bias. if this weeks' massively improved situation doesn't make him eat his words, then hopefully the first few races will for good. i won't miss his exaggerated, attention-grabbing headlines and he'll have to find another team to pick on

!
Edited by frewin90, 03 March 2016 - 02:43.