Jenson Button admits McLaren needs "a big gain" in performance ahead of qualifying to fulfil its lofty expectations in Singapore.
McLaren hopes to be the fourth fastest team in Singapore, with both drivers saying the team should aim for seventh position behind the big three. But the weekend started on the back foot when Button pulled over with a loss of power in FP1, with Fernando Alonso's ninth place in the evening session the team's best for the day.
Button was surprised to see McLaren so far down on where the team expected to be.
"There's a lot of work needed before we are competitive this weekend. It's s strange situation but we had very low grip. The balance wasn't too bad but the grip was nowhere near what the people we were hoping to fight with had. And the harder the compound, the worse it gets, of course. Toro Rosso, on long run pace is just phenomenally quick compared to us... it's a big surprise."
"We need to find a big gain in pace to be where we want to be. We're looking at it, but it's going to be tricky. We'll deal with what we have but it's going to be tougher than we expected this weekend."
He is even refusing to predict a place in the top ten shootout on Saturday evening.
"I don't know about getting into Q3 - the goal is just to go quicker but I don't know where we'll end up. Qualifying is the least of our worries - race pace is the real issue."
Button's teammate Fernando Alonso predicted McLaren would be strong during the Monza weekend, saying the circuit would suit the characterstics of the team's car. However, after Friday practice he said there are others on the horizon which McLaren will be stronger on.
"The expectations around us were quite high, before getting here, but I'd been saying all along that other circuits will be better for us than Singapore - Suzuka, Austin and Abu Dhabi for example, should be better for us. We will fight for a place in Q3, but Force India and Toro Rosso look very strong, so we need to improve to fight with them.
"There's a general lack of grip, it's not underteer or oversteer - it's overall grip that is missing. We need to find more downforce for tomorrow, that will be the key, and making the tyres work for the first lap will be important too. We know it's difficult to overtake here, so qualifying well is going to be very important."