London, England - Honda insists it is not solely to blame for McLaren's woeful 2015 season.
With the MP4-30 raced by champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button still seriously off the pace, most fingers of blame have been consistently pointed at Honda, the obviously-struggling Japanese engine maker that returned to F1 in 2015.
Yasuhisa Arai, Honda's under-fire F1 chief, insists: "The (McLaren) car does not have the best mechanical and aerodynamic grip.
He is quoted by Spain's El Confidencial, referring to data obtained by GPS:"Compared to Red Bull there is still a big difference."
UNDER PRESSURE
McLaren has been piling the pressure on Honda to improve, but even team boss Eric Boullier admits the MP4-30 chassis is not perfect.
Boullier said: "To be fair to Honda our chassis is better than last year's, but not the best in the pitslane.
"Our car is quite 'draggy', we still have to improve things here and there."
Alonso is quoted as saying: "We are trying to improve performance. We are not good enough in power or aerodynamic and mechanical grip, so there are still many things to put in place to be competitive and win championships."