The Woking-based outfit has been encouraged by progress it has made so far this season on the engine and chassis front – and missed out on a top-ten qualifying shootout place by less than one tenth of a second last time out in Russia.

Now, ahead of the start of the European season, the team is planning an aggressive development push to continue moving forward.

Reality check

However, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is cautious about building up false hopes of a big lift in form, especially after the team had eyed a Q3 slot in Russia.

“I don't know how it [the update] will go for Barcelona, and I don't want to create any expectation,” he told Motorsport.

“But Monaco afterwards should suit us, although that race can also be very unpredictable.”

When asked if the updates plus Barcelona not being much of a power track had lifted confidence of McLaren challenging for Q3, Boullier said: “No. No confidence at all yet.

“You know the problem is, we thought we could do it in Russia but for one tenth we didn't. The good news is we were close to Red Bull, which is one of the references in terms of the car, but it was still disappointing to not be there.”

Strong pace

McLaren did come away from the power-dependent Russian Grand Prix with a double points finish, which Boullier thinks is evidence that the team is improving.

“It means the package is starting to work,” he said. “Obviously we need more straightline speed, we need more efficiency because fuel saving is another issue.

“As you saw at the end of the race [in Russia], Fernando [Alonso] was putting in a few laps without fuel saving and we were one second faster – so if we wanted, we could have closed with the other guys.

“But it is coming up, and it is good. We keep bringing every race some developments, so the team is putting a lot of effort in – both McLaren and Honda – so good to see little by little we are closing.”