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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is convinced the team is on the verge of having a car fast enough to regularly compete in the top 10 of the Formula 1 grid.

While McLaren's step forward from its disastrous 2015 season was not enough to score points in the Australian Grand Prix, Boullier believes upcoming improvements planned for the MP4-31 will propel it into the top half of the field.

Australian Grand Prix driver ratings

"The the pace of the car is good, very encouraging, and we know we have something to fight with this year," Boullier told Autosport.

"We know we have a few things coming in the pipeline which should make us a regular contender in Q3.

"If you are regularly in Q3 then it's a different story. You can fight for points."

Boullier believes both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button could have scored points in Australia, but Alonso's spectacular accident and a poor tyre choice for Button during the resulting red flag period took McLaren out of contention.

"We got it wrong with the tyre choice," said Boullier.

"The degradation was too high, we suffered with graining and then we lost the pace.

"When we went to the medium tyres we were back into the right place, but by then it was too late as we were stuck behind [Felipe] Nasr.

"We couldn't pass, even though we were much faster."

McLaren also encountered difficulties with radio transmission, although only due to technical issues, and not via the new clampdown on pit-to-car traffic.

"It was a bit of a headache," smiled Boullier.

"But we were lucky. We had a little break from the FIA.

"I don't want to go into the details, but when the FIA sent some signals, some cars had a problem with the dashboard, like us.

"We lost all communication with the dashboard, so we were allowed to communicate a couple of [items of] information.

"Normally we would not have been allowed, so there was a lot of brainstorming on the pitwall."