Fernando Alonso says McLaren will need some luck to score its first points of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alonso qualified 14th - the team's best grid position so far - and at the last race in China both cars made it to chequered flag. But he does not think McLaren has made a big enough step this weekend to break into the top 10 on merit.
"We need some luck from the people in front of us," he said. "We're 14th fastest today so tomorrow if anything happens, we can take the chance. If not, we'll probably be the 14th fastest during the race and this is not enough for points."
Alonso said the key for McLaren is not to panic and he is hoping further steps in coming races will move him into Q3.
"This is the way it is at the moment. Everyone in the team is calm, and focused on what we have to do. It's very easy to go in panic in this situation when you're down. But it's the opposite. The team is hugely motivated because we know we need each other, we are all united. Hopefully we can do two steps in one, so next one will be Q3. "Obviously it's not the dream come true going to Q2, especially for us because we have higher expectations than going to Q2. We needed the result because we knew we were going in the right direction with the car, the performance but always out of Q1 makes some doubts."