Pierre Gasly admits he is looking to his crew to help overcome problems adapting to the Red Bull RB15.
The Frenchman was always expected to need time to settle in, with his promotion from Toro Rosso coming quite quickly after Daniel Ricciardo joined Renault.
Even so, Gasly has struggled, falling out in Q2 at both races and only benefited from late drama to score an eighth-place finish in Bahrain.
“I need to find some direction with the set-up and see how the engineers can help me to make it feel more suitable to my driving style,” he explained to Autosport.
“I still feel like I cannot really do what I want inside the car. I cannot really push and the car doesn’t react as I would expect.
“There is more potential, but we need see how we can unlock it.”
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After scoring his first points in the desert, Gasly also declared it wasn’t a milestone he wanted a celebrate.
“For sure I’m not satisfied,” he said. “I think there are some positives, but we are not where we want to be, and not where I want to be for sure.”
But while his results are likely well short of expectations, Red Bull boss Christian Horner remains positive about Gasly’s situation going forward.
“It was important for Pierre to have a strong race [in Bahrain] and he did that,” said the Briton.
“I thought some of his overtaking, particularly on [Sergio] Perez, was very impressive and his pace in clear air, particularly in the second half of the race, was strong.
“He will have taken a lot of confidence out of that. Once he starts qualifying further up the grid, life will get a lot easier for him.”