Fernando Alonso is adamant that he remains optimistic over McLaren's future despite admitting that he expected more from the opening races to 2015.
Alonso has retired from the last three rounds and has yet to score a point this season, with the squad's tally of four points all coming courtesy of Jenson Button in Monaco.
Alonso is set for a grid drop this weekend, with McLaren planning to introduce a fifth component to his Honda power unit for the Austrian Grand Prix.
"Probably we expect a little bit more – but it is the way it is," he said. "I think the performance has been always improving race after race.
"I think here it will be the case as well. The thing of this weekend is just the final result. We don’t know if it’s going to be good enough to make us happy – because probably with the penalties we will start a little bit already at the back and pay some extra penalties. So that will be not ideal."
Alonso says McLaren's performance should improve across the coming months.
"In terms of performance, we expect a lot from the car in the next month or two months," he said.
"So we will see how we end up before summer and how we end up at the end of the year. That will give us some hopes for next year, let’s say. It’s the way it is.
"Why I remain optimistic? Because I see a lot of things inside the team, I see the group of people we have, I see the programme that we have in terms of chassis and in terms of engine.
"I see the resources, I see the talent of the team, so it’s a question of time when we will be competitive. Hopefully we will make it very short, that period of learning that we are having at the moment – but I’m optimistic."