McLaren is expecting this week's Chinese Grand Prix to expose the weaknesses of its 2017 car much more than the opening round of the season in Australia.
After two nightmare weeks of pre-season testing, the team exceeded its low expectations at Melbourne, with Fernando Alonso starting 12th on the grid and running in the points before a late suspension issue forced him to retire. However, racing director Eric Boullier admits the team will struggle more on Shanghai's long straights where he expects the deficiencies of Honda's power unit will be laid bare.
"Shanghai is known to be an unpredictable weekend for a number of reasons: it's tough on cars, tyres and power units and the weather is often precarious, but I can predict that we won't be as fortuitous with our pace, compared to our rivals, as we were in Australia," he said.
"The characteristics of the Shanghai International Circuit are very different from Melbourne, and its long, fast straights will likely expose the weaknesses in our package more than Albert Park did. However, we will of course attack the race with our usual fighting spirit, and the most important thing will be to ensure reliability with both cars before focusing on performance."
Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said the Australian Grand Prix proved the team had made a step forward with reliability but was still lagging in terms of performance.
"Although the season opener in Australia was a tough race weekend for us, it allowed us to judge our current position on track. There were both positives and negatives to take away. We were able to confirm certain reliabilities on our power unit, but we also know that we still have room for improvement when it comes to performance.
"We expect the Chinese Grand Prix to be even more challenging. The race is always a bit of an unknown due to the changeable weather conditions, which affects the set-up and balance of the car. The track itself also places a lot of stress on the power unit with its slow- and medium-speed corners, and two very long straights. The key will be preparation and set-up.
"Once again we will work together with McLaren to ensure we do our best and extract the most from our package. It's important we gather as much information as possible. It's a long season and we are looking for progress at every race."