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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier feels the painful 2015 Formula 1 season brought a lot of humility to the team.

In the first year of Honda's return to F1, McLaren finished a lowly ninth in the constructors' championship with just 27 points, in what Boullier concedes was "by far" his most difficult season in the paddock.

Through this hardship, Boullier is convinced the team has learned how to be humble.

"McLaren is a big team, Honda is a big company and both have a great heritage," Boullier told Autosport.

"To keep the trust of the people, the credibility, the morale high, it's a hard job.

"But what we saw [last year] was a lot of success in building [for] the future, definitely, a lot.

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"In some way the bad will be good for McLaren because it brought humility, and strangely maybe, the atmosphere in the company was quite good.

"I'm not saying people were excited by the results, everybody was frustrated, but the atmosphere, the commitment of the people, the understanding, were huge."

As to why the atmosphere was so good within the team when the results and performances were so bad, Boullier said: "Either the system explodes, or everybody regroups. I guess there was a sense within McLaren to regroup."

Following such a dismal season, Boullier concedes to there being pressure on his shoulders to find a winning solution.

"Everybody feels pressure. My first pressure is to win, and I don't need any other pressure than this," added Boullier.