Lando Norris has admitted that McLaren's dismal performance in Bahrain won't remain an exception and warns that more pain is in the works as the team's MCL36 is a "long, long way off".
McLaren concluded its first week of pre-season preparations in Barcelona on a strong note, but in Bahrain two weeks later, a chronic brake issue disrupted the Woking-based outfit's programme.
However, Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo's depressing pace in Sunday's opening race at Sakhir point to a more deep-rooted issue that will likely continue to weigh on the performance of McLaren's new car.
After qualifying respectively P13 and P18, Norris and Ricciardo crossed the finish line on Sunday close together but well down the order, with the Aussie leading the Briton as the pair claimed a lowly 15th and 16th place.
A disappointed Norris admitted to putting on "a brave face" amid a difficult situation as he began his session with the media.
"It’s just where we are, quite simply," he candidly said. "We just have to get a little bit used to it now.
"Of course, over the last few seasons, [there has been] just a lot of expectation from us within the team, and also everyone else watching and so on.
"We just haven’t got it right at the minute. We’re a long, long way off - not just a little bit, we’re a long way. We’ve got to start fresh and figure some things out.
"I’m just trying to find solutions, and solutions doesn’t mean next week we’re going to be amazing. But in months to come we need to understand what’s going on here and how to get better.
"We’ve been in this position a few years ago. I’m hoping we can remain more optimistic that the team and everyone back at MTC can figure things out and we can get back on track."
©McLaren
The main culprit responsible of McLaren's dramatic underperformance is a lack of downforce impacting its MCL36, a weakness unfortunately not offset by a strong straight-line speed.
"We’re a long way down on downforce, the handling therefore is very poor," Norris said.
"It’s a tricky car and tricky tyres to optimise, and when you just don’t have the downforce, you just can’t get the tyres working well and you just can’t get everything in a good window.
"You’re understeering, you’re oversteering, there’s just a lot more things going on. I think that’s the problem. We just need less things to be going on.
"[We] need more rear, more front, it’s just downforce really - it so sounds simple but it’s obviously complicated to figure out."
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
