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McLaren chief operating officer Jonathan Neale has said that the team would be disappointed if they finished below third place in next seasons constructor championship.
McLaren have struggled in the past two seasons since their reunion with Honda, finishing ninth in 2015 and sixth in 2016.
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However the 2017 regulations could provide the Woking based team an opportunity to get back to being competitive.
"You've got to aim high, but right now I would be disappointed if we were fourth," Neale told Autosport.
"That's probably the pragmatist's view, but you don't make progress as pragmatists. We want to win and we want to win sooner."
"We've got a race team, we've got drivers that are capable of winning, and between the chassis and engine, both ourselves and Honda need to bridge that gap in performance."
"The new aerodynamic platform and the great uncertainty over tyres throws an opportunity at us, and I'd like to think that we can capitalise on that. But it's unknown."
McLaren will race with the first different line up since themselves and Honda reassembled, with Stoffel Vandoorne replacing Jenson Button.
McLaren haven't won a Grand Prix since Brazil 2012, and racing director Eric Boullier wants to get back to winning as soon as possible.
"We want to win as early as possible, but I'm dealing with the reality."
"I'm very happy with the Honda approach and I'm happy with the group of engineers we have in McLaren - it's working absolutely perfectly now."
"They are working hard, but the days when you can turn up with a new aero kit on the car and gain one second are finished. Now it's incremental gains all the time. And it's also just time."
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C. Sainz jr
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That's aiming quite high to finish 3rd. That would mean beating either Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari and assuming any other team don't finish ahead of McLaren. Never know, one of the top 3 could slip back. Good fighting talk though.