Jenson Button says McLaren's true potential should start to shine through from the next round of the season in Spain.
McLaren has scored just one point from the first three races despite making significant progress on its car and power unit compared to last year. Button says the tracks so far, including this weekend's circuit in Sochi, have not suited the car, but suspects the true performance will be on show at the next race in Barcelona.
"In terms of where I think we are -- yeah our qualifying pace has been reasonable, I still don't think we've shown our true potential in qualifying either and we have been close to Q3," he said. "Circuits like this don't really help us either but I think when we get back to Europe it should be easier to show our pace in qualifying and hopefully in the race. It's moving forward but you always want more.
"You always want more but Formula One is so competitive right now so for us I feel that having something new every race aerodynamically and also with the power unit it is moving in the right direction but yeah we always more. I think when we start scoring points on a regular basis we'll be a lot happier but that hasn't happened yet."
Asked to comment on Honda's assertion that the power unit is "nearly there", Button said: "It's very difficult to know what it really means. We are very happy with the way that the deployment is this year compared to last year, we're a lot closer to the other manufacturers which is great. In terms of absolute outright power, I don't know. I don't think anyone really knows but we know there is still a lot of work to do and that's the aim."