Aston Martin started off the season strongly with six podiums for Fernando Alonso in the first seven grands prix, but rival teams have since caught up with the Silverstone squad.
It has long fallen behind Mercedes and Ferrari and will now face an uphill task to fend off McLaren for fourth as the Woking outfit's recent double podiums have moved it to within 11 points.
Over the past three races McLaren has scored 104 points compared to just 15 for Aston, but when asked by Autosport if his team is now a sitting duck, team principal Mike Krack replied: "No, you always have your destiny in your own hands.
"You have to try and improve the car, which we still try to do. And then try to fight as hard as we can."
Aston continued work on its AMR23, as it is confident that whatever it brings to the car over the remaining five races will still be relevant for 2024.
It will roll out a new package at this weekend's US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, despite the perils of introducing new parts at a sprint weekend.
"We have some updates coming into the weekend, and we're quite interested to see how they work," said technical director Dan Fallows.
Source: Autosport