New McLaren CEO Zak Brown is aware of the challenge that his team faces this season, on the back of two years of disappointing results, and although confident it will make the most of the rule changes, he doesn't expect the squad to be at the front of the grid.
McLaren has struggled since reuniting with Honda in 2015, finishing a lowly ninth with just 27 points on the board, but made progress last year, tripling its points tally to emerge sixth overall.
That came about through both chassis and power unit improvements, but while both McLaren and Honda are confident of making big steps forward this year, Brown is keeping his expectations in check.
"I’m in constant touch with both Jonathan [Neale] and Eric [Boullier], and our senior engineers too, and I think our 2017 chassis will be a decent one," he told the official Formula 1 website.
"I’m not going to make any precise predictions – I’m not that dumb – but all the indications are that, relative to the targets we thought were realistically attainable under the new regs, our guys have done a very good job.
"Also, let’s not forget, Honda is a fantastic power-unit partner. No company in the world manufactures more engines than Honda does – absolutely none – and the Honda engineers have a tonne of knowledge about turbocharging."
With Honda planning to introduce an almost entirely new power unit based on the Mercedes split turbo concept and major aero rule changes, some have tipped McLaren to re-emerge as a championship challenger, but for now Brown is only eyeing progress.
"We all know that 2015 and 2016 were learning years, and we won’t be at the front of the grid in 2017 either," he added. "But we’re working incredibly hard, together, as one team, and the progress is clear to see.
"We know we’ll win together in the end – we don’t know when so don’t ask me to make that prediction – but as I say we’re making progress and that’s the important thing."
