McLaren chief operating officer Jonathan Neale says the team would be disappointed to finish fourth in the standings this season, despite finishing just sixth in 2016.
Although fourth would be considered a massive leap forward from sixth, Neale believes McLaren are in a position to capitalise on the regulation changes and therefore jump up the order and fight for race wins in 2017.
"You've got to aim high, but right now I would be disappointed if we were fourth," he told Autosport. "That's probably the pragmatist's view, but you don't make progress as pragmatists."
McLaren have already confirmed that Honda will introduce an entirely new power unit this year, therefore everything is in place for McLaren to challenge for wins after a couple of years languishing in the midfield.
"We want to win and we want to win sooner," he added.
"We've got a race team, we've got drivers that are capable of winning, and between the chassis and engine, both ourselves and Honda need to bridge that gap in performance.
"The new aerodynamic platform and the great uncertainty over tyres throws an opportunity at us, and I'd like to think that we can capitalise on that. But it's unknown."
