McLaren's racing director Eric Boullier has admitted that his team are not good enough to challenge for the championship and are instead aiming to repeat their fifth-place finish from last season.
This is McLaren's first season with their new engine partner Honda but the team are still yet to score any points and sit joint-bottom in the team rankings.
When asked about where McLaren will finish in the rankings, Boullier told BBC Sport: "Maybe it looks stupid, but fighting for the position we finished last year.
"It is not good enough - I want to win and I hope we will win. But I have to say something realistic.
"Let's say by the second part of the season after the summer break we are at all the races comfortably in the top-10 qualifying shoot-out and fighting for big points - I'm not saying the podium. That for me would be a big, big achievement."
McLaren have not won a race since 2012, with their last championship-winning season coming back in 2008, courtesy of their former driver Lewis Hamilton.