Lando Norris has conceded McLaren will not win races "anytime soon" due to the Woking-based outfit's pace deficit to Red Bull and Ferrari.
McLaren has made a strong start to the season with Norris securing a podium last month at the Australian Grand Prix.
Ferrari's race pace was too strong for Norris to overcome in Japan last time out, highlighting a key area of weakness McLaren must address.
While the British outfit is behind Red Bull and Ferrari, it is currently ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes in the constructors' championship - however Norris has admitted that a trip to the top step of the podium is out of McLaren's reach.
"Not anytime soon, that's for sure," Norris conceded, speaking to media including RacingNews365.
"I think we can, right place, right time if we improve the car how we need to. Honestly, there weren't too many frustrations with Suzuka, I think everything went pretty much as expected.
"I don't think we did the the perfect job and I think we probably should have finished one place higher up potentially, but I don't think it was far off.
"We've been the same place all season, we've been behind Red Bull, we've been behind Ferrari and we've been a bit of a step ahead of the other two teams come the race. So I don't think there's too many frustrations.
"But we know the issues, we know what we have to improve and if we can improve them, think Andreas' right, I think we can we can win races this year and we can be competitive with these other two teams ahead of us.”
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'Order is still clear'
Ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, Norris was coy over rating McLaren's chances of a strong result compared to with Suzuka two weeks ago.
Norris also noted that McLaren struggled during its last visit to Shanghai International Circuit in 2019 - but recognises the regulations have been heavily revamped since then.
"Probably not as high as Suzuka," noted Norris. "I think that's our opinion, but still in a good position. We've been happy with how the season started.
"I think we're in a good qualifying battle with Aston Martin, Mercedes is very close and even [in Japan] ahead of Ferrari, but I think the order is still clear and I think in racing we've done a good job.
"Not as good as Red Bull and Ferrari, but ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes, so I think we're in a good spot. This wasn't a great circuit for us in 2019 but many things have changed since then. So I'm optimistic we can have a good weekend."
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