Mat Coch writes:

McLaren knew in pre-season testing that it faced a difficult start to the year. After running some way off the pace of Mercedes in qualifying trim in Barcelona a sense of trepidation crept into the Woking squad.

"We don't know what fuel the Mercedes had on board but we did know we were 1.3 seconds off and we couldn't have gone a lot quicker," explained Jenson Button. "We thought; it's winter, it's cold, maybe it's better when we get to Melbourne. When we got to Melbourne it was actually worse than in Barcelona!"

Both Button and Perez struggled, complaining of understeer and poor ride quality. The problem for McLaren is that there is no single point of failure, no smoking gun which will transform the team's fortunes. Instead it will be a gradual process as it understands and resolves the issues.

While some have called for the team to revert to its 2012 car, a move the team has {url= http://www.pitpass.com/48629-McLaren-rules-out-return-to-2012-car}denied it is considering to Pitpass, Button optimistically refuses to rule himself out of the championship fight just yet. "If Kimi doesn't finish in the points again, if the next guy that wins doesn't finish in the points again there might be an opportunity this year," he explained.

"The good thing is there are a lot of teams that are reasonably competitive and they are going to take points off each other."

It is a long shot, but McLaren can take heart from Ferrari's example last year when Fernando Alonso wrestled a car which was over a second a lap off the pace to within touching distance of the championship.

"I think we have a reasonable understanding of what we need to do but not 100 per cent," Button admitted. "We're working bloody hard to get back to the front because this is not where we expected to be and it's definitely not where we should be."

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