McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran says the team will only rest when success returns to Woking.
November’s race in Brazil will mark seven years since the British outfit last won in Formula 1, with the Australian GP signalling five years since their last podium finish.
Since then the failed Honda partnership has come and gone with McLaren still stuck in the midfield, with RaceFans asking whether beating current engine supplier Renault was the goal for McLaren.
“Personally I don’t look at it that way,” De Ferran said.
“Renault has done a great job for us this year as a power unit partner. They have definitely made a step forward and delivered us a more powerful power unit and I think our objective is just to keep moving up regardless of who’s ahead.
“I cast my mind back to when I was a driver, some people like to focus on one enemy but I don’t think that way.
“We as a group can only control what we do and that’s what we need to stay focused on and continue to move forward. And, frankly, no rest until we are P1 and P2.”
After ending last year towards the back of the grid, 2019 has seen a much stronger start, notably in Bahrain where both cars made Q3 and Lando Norris finished ‘best of the rest’ in P6.
“This car feels like it’s a little bit of a step forward relative to last year, but we are certainly under no illusions,” the sporting boss said.
“We still know there is a lot of work ahead of us, I’ve been saying that throughout winter testing and the first few races and that mindset hasn’t changed.”
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Last year, McLaren CEO Zak Brown laid out a five-year plan to get the team back to the front, most of which is likely dependent on rule changes in 2021.
But in his first season at the team, Carlos Sainz is already seeing progress.
“The team has had a challenging few years but we share the same values of never giving up and fighting to be the best. It’s in our DNA and to lead this project is a huge motivation,” the Spaniard claimed.
“We’ve had a difficult first three races of 2019, but we can take so much encouragement from our raw performance.
“We’re turning things around already this year, we’re right in the midfield fight and have shown consistently that we have a car that is capable of scoring points.”