Dr Helmut Marko admits "perhaps a podium" might be Red Bull’s most realistic target for Baku.
Although there were rumours the team has brought a radical new floor to Azerbaijan, the team’s top F1 consultant says any changes for Baku are not major.
"Unless a miracle happens, we don’t expect any improvement at the next two tracks in Baku and Singapore because both tracks have exceptional characteristics," Marko told Auto Bild.
A significant car upgrade is in the works for Austin next month.
"Right now it’s all about finding solutions for that," said Max Verstappen, referring to recent car handling problems that have now become chronic.
"Although I know that this won’t happen in one or two weeks’ time."
The championship leader is also not marking Austin’s USGP in his diary for a guaranteed solution.
"It depends on how things go here and in Singapore, and how quickly we can react if we find something," Verstappen said at Baku on Thursday.
He doesn’t even think a McLaren and Mercedes-style flexible front wing would particularly help. "I don’t think this is our biggest problem at the moment," said the 26-year-old.
"The problem we have with our car is something that develops over a long period of time - it gets worse and worse. This has been going on for a while now."
Sergio Perez, however, is more optimistic, revealing that the car handling for Baku and Singapore already felt "a lot better" in the simulator last week.
The Mexican is also known as a street circuit specialist. "That was one of the reasons why we continued with him," Marko told Kleine Zeitung newspaper.
"He is a specialist for such street circuits and I hope that he will find his old strength here."
Even if Verstappen and Perez are in top form, however, Marko doubts that beating McLaren is realistic. "If things go well for us, perhaps a podium is possible," said the Austrian.
"We finally have to find the balance with the car, which is especially important here with hardly any run-off areas," Marko explained. "It should be better than in Monza, but real progress will only be made in Austin."
However, he doesn’t expect Verstappen to lose his cool if he fails to win on Sunday for the seventh consecutive grand prix weekend in a row.
"No," said Marko, "because he has seen that people are listening to him now and that the problems are being taken seriously.
"But at the moment, the setup of the car is still a bit of a lottery, especially for Baku and Singapore. "We have created a car that reacts extremely sensitively to the smallest changes."