Fernando Alonso admits he was expecting McLaren to be more competitive by this stage of the season.
Neither McLaren finished the Canadian Grand Prix despite a power unit upgrade from Honda, with the car uncompetitive on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. While Alonso is confident the team is still improving, he concedes he wasn't expecting to still be struggling so much after seven rounds of the season.
"Probably we expect a little bit more but that’s the way it is," Alonso said. "I think the performance has aways been improving, race after race, and I think here will be the case as well. The thing of this weekend is just the final result which we don’t know will be good enough to make us happy, because with the penalties we will start a little bit at the back.
"That will be not ideal but in terms of performance we expect a lot from the car in the next month or two months, but we will see how we end up before summer and before the end of the year. That will give us some hopes for next year and that’s the way it is."
And Alonso says he remains positive because of the work he is able to see behind the scenes at McLaren as it seeks to move up the grid.
"Why do I remain optimistic? Because I see a lot of things inside the team. I see the group of people we have, the programme we have in terms of chassis and engine. I see the resources, I see the talent of the team, so it’s a question of time when we will be competitive. Hopefully we will make it short, this period of learning we are having at the moment, but I’m optimistic."
Click here for F1i's exclusive interview with Daniel Ricciardo
Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
