McLaren CEO Zak Brown sees little reason for optimism between now and the end of the season as his team struggle with an “extremely poor” car.
2018 was expected to see a big revival at the Woking-based squad after dropping Honda in favour of Renault and producing a chassis that was very competitive last season.
However, that strength did not continue as instead a draggy, flawed design has left the once great team stuck towards the back of the grid.
“We’ll continue to push on this car but unfortunately we’ve produced an extremely poor race-car that is not that responsive to changes, which will tell you that inherently we don’t have a good race-car,” Brown told Autosport.
“I would expect, unfortunately, a similar type of results – maybe a little more circuit-specific – over the balance of the year.
“I certainly wouldn’t expect any miracles,” he concluded.
The unexpected strength of teams like Haas, Sauber and Toro Rosso, have only added to the woes McLaren have faced, but the American chief accepts they can only blame themselves.
“Other teams have developed at a faster pace than ourselves,” he admitted. “It appears we’ve gone backwards. In reality, everyone else has gone forwards, but in Formula 1 if you’re not going forwards you’re going backwards.
“We knew Spa and Monza-type circuits would be our absolute weak points in the car, which are proving to be the case. We’re not giving up on developing because we’re identifying the issues and want to see if we’re able to solve them.”
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In recent years, the streets of Singapore have offered McLaren the chance to be more competitive and Stoffel Vandoorne is hoping for a repeat again this weekend.
“I’m 100 per cent determined to give everything for the remaining Grands Prix this season,” said the Belgian, head to the first race since his exit was confirmed.
“Racing at Singapore was an incredible experience last year and I’m really looking forward to doing it again. It was there and in Malaysia that I scored my best result yet in F1, in seventh place.
“It’s a track that definitely suits the strengths of our package more than others. I’m hopeful of a more positive weekend where we can show improved pace and take the fight to our competitors.”