Risky business for McLaren

McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale has said his team have had to take risks so far this season as they strive to cut the gap to Red Bull.

The Woking-based outfit's approach appears to have paid off in recent races, with Lewis Hamilton claiming victory in Germany before Jenson Button won in Hungary seven days later.

The upturn in fortunes has also given McLaren a small glimmer of hope as they look to catch Red Bull. At present they stand 103 points adrift in the constructors' championship, with Hamilton placed third in the drivers' championship, 88 points adrift of leader Sebastian Vettel. Button stands fifth overall, a further 12 points behind.

Neale said that besides the obvious need to improve the performance of their car, McLaren's approach stems from a desire to avoid their drivers taking unnecessary risks on the track.

"I think when you are coming from behind the Red Bulls, you have to take risks," he told the official Formula One website.

"And we have taken risks with the car and we've taken risks with the driving. The drivers are passionate about winning and push so hard that you can easily get to a situation where you overdrive and then mistakes creep in.

"When we managed to get some performance into the car the drivers started to relax a bit. They know that they have a competitive package underneath them and I think the whole system started to breathe a bit more easily because of that. Well as much as you ever breathe easily in this environment!"

Appetite

Neale admitted that McLaren's risk-taking is a strategy they might not have adopted in years gone by. Such an approach was apparent at the season-opening race in Australia where, having struggled in pre-season testing, they appeared with a rapidly re-worked new exhaust system for their MP4-26 chassis.

"I think that is fair to say. Yes, we've taken more risks. Some we got away with, and some of them we haven't," he explained.

"But Formula One is not a business or a sport where you can sit back because everybody else is trying so hard. The moment you hesitate then you know that you will go backwards relative to the competition. And that's not why we're here."

McLaren's hopes of winning either of the titles this year may now appear slight but Neale said they have no intention of going down without a fight.

"First of all, we like to win races and have a huge appetite to win many more races this year," he added.

"Mathematically, the titles are still possible and we will keep on fighting. But even if it wasn't still possible, we wouldn't back off. We've won four races so far this season and two races in a row, so I believe that we can do well this season. We certainly will not sit back.

"Of course at some point we will have to take a look at the balance of resources for next year, but I cannot imagine myself and (team principal) Martin (Whitmarsh) looking at each other and thinking 'should we just lift now and stop'. I cannot imagine that - so we won't!" he added.

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