Formula One news

McLaren boss wants more consistency

McLaren heads to the German Grand Prix, Mercedes' home race, in the lead of the drivers' championship by the narrowest of margins and hopeful of extending that advantage next weekend and also moving up from third in the constructors' championship.

"We're leading the drivers' championship with Lewis and are third in the constructors' championship," team boss Martin Whitmarsh said. "And while we remain encouraged by the pace we've recently shown and the victories we've achieved, there's a feeling that we could still be doing more to consistently score strongly." 

"Several opportunities for victory, most notably in Istanbul and Montreal, have slipped through our fingers," he added. "We've suffered a few penalties - which we took squarely on the chin - and, through no fault of his own, Heikki has finished out of the points on several occasions, either due to us being unable to provide him with a suitable car or through circumstances that were largely beyond his control. So as we head into the second half of the season, our primary objective must be to work harder to iron out these imperfections, to provide our drivers with race-winning machinery at every opportunity and to sharpen our focus on the world titles - both of which are still achievable for us."

"In Hockenheim this week, we evaluated a number of further aerodynamic improvements, some of which were plain to see, and it's rewarding to see just how far we've already pushed development of the car," he went on. "While we have already started looking in greater detail at our 2009 package, there are currently no plans to ease up on seasonal development of this year's car."

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