Fernando Alonso admits progressing beyond the first round of qualifying will be a struggle for McLaren at their home race.
Both McLaren drivers were off the pace during Friday’s running as they struggled to even stay ahead of perennial backmarkers Manor Marussia in the opening session – Jenson Button just a tenth clear of Will Stevens.
Things looked marginally better in P2, as Alonso leapt ahead of both Saubers, while Button edged out Marcus Ericsson.
“Friday was more or less as we expected – we did limited running, and just tried to get some quality laps under our belt,” Alonso said.
“It wasn’t very easy for anyone– we saw a lot of people going off – but that’s how it is. Hopefully we can find something extra for Saturday.
“We’ll take things a step at a time: getting into Q2 will be tough – we need to beat the Saubers if we want to get out of Q1 – so we’ll do our very best on Saturday and then focus on finishing the race.
“We’re in a difficult situation but we’ll try to get the maximum out of the car. We tested a lot of parts today and I’m sure we’ll make progress tomorrow.”
A dismal start to 2015 has seen McLaren score points just once in the opening eight races, their worst run in their F1 history.