Fernando Alonso believes that McLaren Honda are "still underperforming a lot" after both he and Jenson Button were again eliminated in the first part of qualifying in Shanghai.
The Spaniard starts behind his teammate on the ninth row of the grid for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, but Alonso has admitted that the team were hoping for a better result.
He told reporters: "We always hope for Q2, especially after yesterday's performance, but qualifying arrives, everyone gives their maximum and we were not quick enough today.
"We're two tenths off Q2, so definitely a lot closer to the midfield and also closer to the top guys, so this a step forward. But we need to keep in this line because we're still underperforming a lot with both cars out of Q1, hopefully for the last time.
"The main priority now is trying to finish the race and to learn things about the car and possible problems. Obviously in Malaysia with two DNFs for our two cars, this was not the ideal situation."
McLaren are yet to score a point in 2015.
