The MP4-26 currently falls short of its rivals © Sutton Images
Lewis Hamilton has endorsed team-mate Jenson Button's concerns about the readiness of McLaren. Hamilton admitted the McLaren is not yet ready for a tilt at the title and is pinning his hopes on his team's ability to develop the car during the season.
Hamilton suffered an exhaust problem during testing at Barcelona on Wednesday, further limiting his time at the wheel of the MP4-26. So far in testing the car has been unreliable and showed few signs that it will be on the pace of the Red Bull and Ferrari.
"Do I believe I have a car to win the world championship at the moment? I don't. No," Hamilton said in Barcelona. "But that doesn't mean it won't become a world championship-winning car."
He said he would aim for steady results early in the season in order to be in a position to charge for the title later on.
"I have every belief in my heart that I can win many, many more world championships," Hamilton added. "So I'm definitely not shutting the year off. Everything is still to play for. As long as we keep pushing in the right direction with the development, and the new things we have coming several races down the line, hopefully they will enable us to close the gap and compete for wins.
"If we pick up a good few points in the first few races, then we won't be miles behind. Say for example we were able to be in the top five for the first three or four races, get those points, and then if we happen to have a car capable of winning, then it would still be possible. I'm ready, and when the car is ready I will be at the front and I will win races, but whether that will happen, we'll see."
The exhaust problem emerged early in a race simulation on Wednesday and forced Hamilton to stay in the pits for a large chunk of the morning. He said one of the main problems is that the car still is still unproven over longer runs.
"It has been a tough day in the sense that we've not done enough miles," he added. "I came here hoping to do more laps, to get in a good 100-odd laps, to get in a race distance. Usually at this time of the year this is when we come with pit stops and one or two race distances a day, but we were nowhere near even completing one.
"So it was a bit on and off, it wasn't a great day for us, but in terms of how the car felt there was an improvement with some of the upgrades we have. So that is at least a positive, it's not all negative.
"I can do qualifying, no problem; can do practice, no problem. But in terms of how long we can go in terms of reliability and our true pace, that's an unknown factor for us because in the time we have had we've not been able to maximise things.
"That's no-one's fault, just issues you have in testing, and this is testing, this is what it's all about, finding where your weaknesses are so you can build on them and fix them. We've been focusing on those, but we definitely have several issues that are not as easy to rectify as we had hoped."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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