Williams technical director Mark Gillan doesn’t believe McLaren can simply find quick fixes to solve its current problems which has seen it start well off the lead pace.
Gillan, who said he was surprised by their start, is aware that they have suffered similar problems in the past before out-developing their rivals to become pacesetters, but he isn’t so sure they’ll be able to do the same, not at least until the European season begins.
“I was surprised at how slow they were at the beginning of the season,” he told James Allen on F1. “They’ve had a couple of poor starts, but typically [they] get it sorted.”
He reckons the problems are deeper and more serious than they’re letting on.
“The fact they are obviously concerned about the development and how quickly they can improve things probably means the problems are down to suspension and the pick up points into the chassis which are quite difficult to change quickly.
“If it was just purely aerodynamic changes, I’d expect them to deal with it within a race or two, so it’s probably going to take them quite a while.”
He added that it could take up until the Canadian Grand Prix, round seven of the championship, before they’re on top of their issues.