Ralf Schumacher has admitted that his promotion to a new-spec car in the DTM has not gone as well as he had hoped in the first two races.
The German failed to score a point at Hockenheim or Lausitz, and he has had a troublesome start to the season with an incident-packed season opener, followed by a tough second weekend where he missed practice and qualifying with engine problems.
Schumacher's HWA-Mercedes team-mates - Gary Paffett, Bruno Spengler, and Paul di Resta - are all in the top five in the standings at this stage, and the ex-Formula 1 driver is disappointed with the gap in performance at the moment.
"I'm a bit further away from my team-mates than I'd wished for - that's clear," Schumacher told AUTOSPORT. "Clearly it's down to me to find a way to go faster.
"It's been difficult. I've been a bit unlucky at times, but I'm not sure I'm really at home in a new car yet."
Schumacher still believes his pre-season target of getting on the podium is a realistic goal, but he feels he will need to improve his consistency more than his outright speed if he is to be more competitive.
"I'm finding it a bit difficult to push at the right time, in the right way, to get the ultimate lap time together," he added. "I'm a bit inconsistent right now and that's because I'm not really familiar with the new car yet.
"I've always said that if I could have a podium by the end of the year that would be great and I still have the same target."