Lando Norris admitted that he was worried by just how far off the pace McLaren was on Friday, in the opening two practice sessions for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
Norris was fourth fastest in FP1 but dropped to 17th in the later hour-long session after his main flying lap run ended up being caught in traffic leaving him with second hand soft tyres.
But even with these extenuating circumstances, Norris felt that McLaren had fallen behind their rivals this week and had a lot of ground to make up if they were to be competitive in this weekend's race.
"We're quite a long way off," a dejected Norris told the official F1 TV channel in the paddock after the end of practice. "I'm having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it, clearly."
There was a silver linin, with his team mate Oscar Piastri performing well throughout the day. He was sixth fastest in first practice and improved to fifth and within half a second of the top time set by Charles Leclerc in FP2.
"I think where Oscar was is kind of more where we are," Norris acknowledged. "If we nail it, we're just about there, but I'm sure the [other teams] are not even close to nailing it yet.
"Honestly, we have quite a lot to find compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull," he insisted. "They're all very similar, and then there's a good three, four tenths gap back to us. So a lot of work for us to do.
"The car's still not bad," he added. "I'm sure we can still get a lap time out of it, but we're not as clearly ahead as we have been on the races."
McLaren's MCL38 has been acclaimed as the car to beat in recent outings, making this sudden apparent backwards slide something of a surprise for everyone.
"There have been plenty of circuits we've not been quick," Norris pointed out in response. "People just love to believe that we're the best everywhere, but we're not.
"We've been doing a very good job so far, a better job than other teams, but we've always known the Ferraris are very quick here [in Baku]", he said. "And with these kinds of track conditions, Mercedes is going to be very quick."
Low-grip conditions and a dirty track have posed problems for everyone, with many drivers having lock-ups, running too deep, or making contact with the barrier. Charles Leclerc and Franco Colapinto both triggered red flags in FP1.
"It's just very slidey out there, you know?" Norris acknowledged. "We perform well at the higher grip circuits and the track is way off, not even close to where we were last year.
"We're just finding it difficult at the minute, but we'll work hard tonight."
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