McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown says he remains confident that the outfit can surpass its 2016 performance level by the end of the year, despite its difficult start to 2017.
McLaren reunited with Honda at the start of 2015, slumping to ninth in the standings, before improving throughout 2016 to emerge in the thick of the midfield battle, placing sixth overall.
However, McLaren and Honda has struggled for reliability and performance this season, leaving the team at the foot of the standings, as the only entrant yet to score a point.
Brown, who joined the company at the end of 2016, is nonetheless confident that it can return to – and surpass – last year’s level before the conclusion of the current campaign.
“I thought we would have improved from 2016,” Brown said in an interview with Formula 1.com, referring to his pre-season expectations.
“Clearly we have not after the Barcelona race, where things looked promising for a blink of an eye with Fernando’s [Alonso] grid position. But it didn’t work in the race.
“But I am optimistic that we will catch and pass our 2016 performance at the end of the year.
“I am not saying that we are going to be ahead in the points, but I would like to think with the work and effort that everyone puts in, that we would be more competitive on track than we finished last year.
“But obviously we are starting with such a deficit into this first half year that I think when it is all said and done in points or tally at the end of the season that it is hard to imagine that we could be better than sixth place.”
Alonso secured McLaren’s first Q3 presence of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix, but slipped to 12th place in the race after a first-lap off, following contact with Felipe Massa.
Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, retired with damage after a clash, also with Massa, for which he received a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix.
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