There's no beating around the bush.
Jamie Whincup is on the back foot.
Used to being the hunted... the 6-time Supercar series champion became the hunter at the Clipsal 500 earlier this month.
The trouble was, he was well off his team-mate Shane van Gisbergen's pace as the Kiwi went on to win the weekend.
But could the set up of his new chassis be the main worry heading into this weekend's action at Albert Park?
Whincup sure hopes so.
“It was more of a direction that we didn’t get right (in Adelaide)," he told Supercars.com.
“The other car got it very right and that was the difference.”
Whincup and his other Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes both got new cars for 2017 and it's cleared the squad are still ironing out the kinks.
New Dunlop tyres have also changed the game.
“It’s slightly different to the old construction and threw us a little bit."
“We’ll keep working on it in the next few rounds and try to get on top of it.”
While the drivers won't be playing for points at the Grand Prix, they will be looking for bragging rights ahead of the next Championship round at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in a couple of weeks time.
Whincup knows more than most that time is against him if he's to rediscover the speed required for another run at the title.