Although McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran believes the team has made progress this season, he concedes there is still a “long road ahead” for the Woking team.

Last season, McLaren’s first with Renault engines, the Woking team bagged 62 points with the bulk of those coming in the first five grands prix.

This year they have managed just one points-scoring finish in three races thanks to Lando Norris’ sixth place in Bahrain.

The team has had their fair share of bad luck with Daniil ‘The Torpedo’ Kvyat crashing into both McLarens at the Chinese Grand Prix while an MGU-K failure put Carlos Sainz out of the Australian race.