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Martin Brundle fears the problems McLaren and Aston Martin experienced in Bahrain could last for the first half of the season.

Third and fourth respectively in the 2020 Constructors’ standings, both McLaren and Aston Martin – the latter rebranded from Racing Point – fared worse last year, dropping to fourth and seventh.

And despite the revised regulations for 2022 providing effectively a blank sheet of paper for all teams to design their new cars, the downward trend for both of these two British-based teams continued at the opening race in Bahrain.

All four of their cars qualified among the back eight on the grid and things got no better in the race, with the Aston Martin and McLaren quartet being among the last six to finish along with the Williams duo.

It was not entirely unexpected, for McLaren have been struggling with brake duct issues since the start of the official test while Aston Martin are encountering one of the worst ‘porpoising’ problems which they say is costing them up to three quarters of a second per lap.

Brundle, who said McLaren “had a nightmare” in Bahrain, does not see a quick fix for either team, especially given the structure of the race calendar in the early phase of the campaign.

Speaking about McLaren to Sky Sports News, Brundle said: “They started at the back and pretty much stayed there.

“We know they had to make some late changes,