Lando Norris has issued McLaren a brutal verdict, describing its car this season as "just slow" and insisting that the team is fully aware of its situation and that there are "no excuses".
The reigning world champion struggled in qualifying and had to settle for sixth on the grid, just a couple of hours after claiming third in the Silverstone Sprint.
It is looking set to be a difficult British Grand Prix for Norris, with McLaren again off the pace of both Mercedes and Ferrari.
The Woking-based outfit does appear to be on a similar level to Red Bull, based on Norris qualifying ahead of Max Verstappen but behind Isack Hadjar.
What concerns the Briton is the seven-tenths deficit to the front of the field, a gap that is significant given that Norris thought his lap was "pretty amazing".
Defending his drivers' title is looking increasingly unlikely, despite it being only near the halfway stage of the campaign, with McLaren in desperate need of upgrades.
"I mean, it's just tough," Norris told select media, including RacingNews365. "We don't have any pace.
"We're seven tenths off pole, and I thought my lap was pretty amazing. I was very happy with it. I improved in every single corner, and I felt like I got everything out of the car.
"We're just slow. The car is slow on the straights, and we're slow in all the corners. There's nothing more I can say apart from that. The car's not very efficient at the minute, which makes it pretty unbelievable that we finished P3 [in the Sprint], considering we're seven tenths off.
"So there's no excuse. The car is not good enough, and we know that. We just have to keep working hard. That's it."
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