Sergio Perez has no doubts McLaren will soon be winning again in F1

McLaren's troubled 2013 car has yet to achieve a podium, and a substantial development package introduced at Barcelona did not elevate it up the order.

Asked by AUTOSPORT if he still felt he could win this year, Perez acknowledged that it would be tough in the short-term but is certain it remains achievable.

"The recovery has to come step by step," he said.

"At the moment we are quite far away. We are not giving up.

"We have to win some races this year. That's our target, and this is what everybody's working flat-out at the factory for.

"It's been a difficult start to the season with a car that's more than far away from being capable of fighting for victories. But the target is to improve on what we did in Barcelona."

Perez declined to set a deadline for when he feels McLaren has to be back among the frontrunners to have a hope of achieving its 2013 win aims.

"In Barcelona we were massively far away, which was very disappointing," he said.

"I expect it will take a couple more races to turn everything around.

"It's difficult to say something like 'we are going to be on the podium at the British Grand Prix', because at the moment it looks very far away. We are not really close.

"But McLaren is a great team. If we can be on the podium by Silverstone, we could definitely be very, very happy with the performance and we could win races after that."

The Mexican still hopes he and Jenson Button can outperform their car in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying this weekend even though the Monte Carlo circuit will bring out some of the McLaren's current weaknesses.

"It isn't going to be an easy weekend to put a lap together," said Perez.

"In Monaco of course the car is important - if you don't have a strong car over the bumps it's very difficult for traction.

"But I still think we can make a difference here."