“I openly admit that we are not where we want to be with the V8 programme,” said Norbert Haug. "At the moment, we are perhaps where we should have been in the middle of December."

He added: "We are doing everything possible in order to be competitive for the first race in Bahrain."

Reports reveal that the engine is down as much as 2,000rpm of major rivals. Haug said these reports are “exaggerated”.