McLaren: Victory still possible

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is not ruling out a race win for Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button in today's Bahrain Grand Prix, although he acknowledges that his team is not quick enough to take victory on merit this weekend.Although McLaren looked to be right in the thick of the fight with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes in testing, it has struggled for pace at Sakhir.Both Hamilton and Button were over a second off the pace in qualifying and will start fourth and eighth."We were lacking in grip, we struggled in the middle section," Whitmarsh admitted."We didn't deal with the bump into turn six as well as some, that made it difficult into seven and eight and thereafter. "So I think it was really difficult for our guys, but we weren't quick enough."He said McLaren was realistic but determined heading into the grand prix."It looks tough and ambitious - but we are an ambitious team and we are going to see what happens," Whitmarsh said."We are not ruling anything out, but we are not making any brave predictions."We don't look quick enough to deserve a victory here, but that doesn't mean we will stop trying to get one but we are realistic about it as well."We'll see what happens in the race - we've got two great racers so no one here is going to give up on a strong result."Whitmarsh was sanguine about the team's position, and said its Sakhir struggle had not come as a huge shock."I've been in better places here, and I've been in lot worse places at the start of the season," he said."We know that winning races and championship is tough but we think we can have a good strong race and score some points."We've got to make sure that we are stronger when we get to Australia and we will keep pushing and developing as we always do."We maybe haven't got enough downforce here, certainly for that middle section, and we've got to look at the job we are doing."But I don't think there are any surprises - we always knew and were realistic about where we might be here."