Just when McLaren had nowhere to go but up, it sank to a new low when Fernando Alonso's car broke down on Friday's first lap of practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.
A puff of smoke enveloped the two-time Formula One world champion when his McLaren spun out of a turn and into the gravel at the start of the morning session at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya.
McLaren's team radio told him to "stop the car, stop the car, engine problem" as a pool of liquid dripped from the underside of the vehicle.
The drip turned into a gush of yellowish liquid when a crane lifted the McLaren away from the track.
By then, Alonso was being ferried back to the paddock on the back of a scooter, past many of the local fans who had come to give the Spaniard a much-needed boost.
Alonso and McLaren are having a wretched 2017. After showing some progress last year with its Honda engine, the team has taken a huge step back with neither Alonso nor new teammate Stoffel Vandoorne yet to score a point.
Alonso didn't finish any of this season's opening four races. He had to abandon the Russian GP last round when his car broke down on the formation lap.
And despite two weeks to work on the car, McLaren has made no progress.
The latest blow comes a day after an ultimatum from Alonso: either McLaren gives him a competitive car by October, or he will look to change teams or even consider leaving F1. Alonso has already decided to try his luck at the Indianapolis 500 instead of the Monaco GP.
In the rest of opening practice, Mercedes registered the top-two times under sunny skies in northeastern Spain after Thursday's showers.
Lewis Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of 1 minute, 21.521 seconds, with Vatteri Bottas only 0.029 seconds slower.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who won the race last year, and Daniel Ricciardo were next, within 1.6 seconds of Hamilton.
Ferrari pair Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth, about a second slower than Hamilton.
F1 leader Vettel also had a mishap early, when what he suspected to be an issue with his gearbox forced him to stop coming out of pitlane. After marshalls rolled him back to his garage, his mechanics quickly fixed the problem and he went back out.
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