Mercedes team principle Ross Brawn insists team lack the pace needed to push on for any kind of title, despite some competitive qualifying performances.
The German outfit currently sit in third place in the Constructors?
Championship, 11 points behind Ferrari and 67 points behind Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have both impressed recently in Monaco and Canada, but consistency has evaded them throughout the opening seven races.
The Brit is in his first term with Mercedes and was hoping to be challenging for the title, which once again looks to be heading the way of three-time winner Sebastian Vettel, even at this early stage.
Brawn has conceded that this may not be their season but insists they will come back stronger and better next time round with a car that can compete at the higher level.
Brawn said: “I think it was a pretty reasonable race (Canada), to be honest, from where we were. If we look at our performance on Friday, it didn’t look great, so it was a pretty reasonable race from there.
“Clearly, we have to find a bit more pace if we want to be a real contender, but it’s somewhat of a step from where we were last year.
“Overall it was a pretty good job by the team during quite a challenging weekend.”
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