Jenson Button concedes McLaren will need to take some risks if they want to catch up with the frontrunners over the next couple of races.
Whereas in previous events McLaren appeared to have a slight edge on Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of race pace, they struggled to keep up with the front two throughout Sunday's European Grand Prix.
Button had to settle for a sixth-place finish around the streets of Valencia while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in fourth place.
The 2009 World Champion admits things didn't go well right from the start.
"It wasn't the most exciting race was it?" he told BBC Sport.
"After the start when I lost position and then regained position from Nico Rosberg, I don't think I saw another car all race. Overall, the pace wasn't there for us."
According to Button, McLaren are currently in no-man's land as there's a big gap between themselves and the top two while the rest of the pack isn't close enough.
He added that they desperately need some good upgrades to move forward.
"We need some really good upgrades going forward," he said.
"We need to get our heads down and come up with something - particularly aerodynamically, I think. We need to take some risks.
"There's a big gap behind us to the Mercedes and a big gap in front of us in terms of Ferrari and Red Bull. We need to take some steps forward."
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