Lewis Hamilton said it was difficult to get the best out of this year's Mercedes.
George Russell was fourth in the Spanish Grand Prix after Mercedes upgraded his car.
Hamilton, 0.119 seconds slower than Russell, said he was struggling with the car.
The car has the potential to be third or fourth, but I am not able to pull it out of the car.
I don't feel great in the sense of my driving and I'm working as hard as I can.
I'm still way off. I don't have confidence in the rear of the car. I have no idea how to get around that.
I don't know what I am going to do but I will keep working and trying to figure it out. I don't have a rear end in the car.
The most significant problem the car has had so far is a high-speed bouncing created by aerodynamic disruption on the straights, and Hamilton said he was seeing hope after a redesign of the floor eliminated it.
Hamilton said that they improved the car and stopped it from bouncing.
We don't have the bouncing in the straight line. The car is a lot better than the bouncing we have in Turns Three and Nine.
The development bits that have come have worked so more will come. I am looking forward to the next upgrade so we can add some performance.
After six races, Hamilton and Russell are tied at three-all in their head-to-head.
Russell said that he believed the car was quicker in the race than it was in the qualification round.
He said that the result was the best of the season. We were the fastest in sector one and the worst in sector three. We have a better race car than the one that looked fast this weekend.
Modifications in Spain allowed Mercedes to run the car as low as they wanted to for optimum performance, even though the porpoising was preventing them from doing so.
Russell said that it wasn't fundamentally different, but we had more grip. The car could be moved closer to the ground.
We lost a lot of down force to get rid of the porpoising. The car is not fast enough to fight the guys in front. We can build on this baseline and find a lot more performance.
Russell was optimistic that he could compete with the other drivers for a place on the podium.
After spinning on his first lap in the final part of the qualification, Charles Leclerc was able to recover and take pole position, ahead of his title rival Max Verstappen and the second Ferrari.
The two Mercedes are in fifth place.
Russell said thatMax looks quicker than the rest but we have a chance against the Ferrari if they don't find some gains overnight.
The teams ran long runs in the second practice on Friday, which led to the comments by the 24 year old.
Verstappen, who has won the past two races to eat significantly into Leclerc's championship points lead, had an advantage over the rest of the field on average of more than half a second a lap.
After struggling with heavy tyre usage on Friday, Ferrari made set-up changes before Saturday and Leclerc said they had improved the car significantly.
It is going to be very difficult because Red Bull is very strong in tyre management and it is our weakness since two races, according to Leclerc, who leads Verstappen by 19 points.
It was a weakness yesterday. We changed the car completely this morning, but we were the only ones on the track doing long runs, so we have no comparison with Red Bull. The feeling is there, but we still have to see how Red Bull does during the race.
He said that he was in a strong position to start the race, but that he would lose the win if they did not use the tyres well.
Verstappen said he was impressed by Leclerc's pace.
The world champion said that they improved their car quite a bit in terms of tire management.
The drivers are expecting a difficult race in Spain because of the high temperatures and the fact that there are at least two pit stops.
Russell said that it would be challenging to get the tyres to last the end. It is not going to be easy.
The cars have been changed this year with the idea of making overtaking easier, but Sainz said the heat this weekend would likely mean passing remained a challenge at a track where it has always been difficult.
Sainz said that following has been more difficult this weekend than it has been in the past. You have less grip when you do a lap behind a car because the tires are too hot. It is not going to be easy to pass in Barcelona, it is very hot.
Verstappen said it would be wrong to assume that the winner would come from the front row.
Verstappen, who took his maiden victory in Barcelona six years ago, said that it can be important to lead the first lap, but not really.
I was fourth after the start. I took the lead last year, but didn't win. Good pace and good tire management are required.
It is hard on the tires with the high-speed cornering. If there is an opportunity, you go for it. You wait and hope the package you have is competitive enough to win the game.
Verstappen had to make changes to his car from Friday to Saturday to improve its one-lap pace, but he said he did not believe they would have compromised the car for the race.
He said that what they improved over one lap wouldn't hurt their long run. I think there was a bit more potential for the one-lap performance, because we didn't do that well yesterday and this morning.
It was more difficult for us to find a connected car. It is better for the long run when you find it in qualification.
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