McLaren can still ‘pull back’ to win F1 world championship, says team principal

London - McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh believes that his team can still defy the odds and win the Formula One world championship despite the big lead currently enjoyed by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Defending champion Vettel still stands 88 points ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton, with Jenson Button a further 12 points adrift of his team-mate.

Whitmarsh admits that with only eight races left this season it will take a monumental effort to catch Vettel, but insists his team certainly haven’t given up.

"I think it’s tough, but it’s possible. And winning races is tough, but I think all you can do is try to win every race, and you can’t do more than that. It is difficult to pull back the gap, but it’s possible," Sky Sports quoted Whitmarsh, as saying.

"Of course people focus on the championship, but I think if you are not leading the championship then you can’t worry too much about it," he added.

Whitmarsh also said that Hamilton’s victory in the German Grand Prix last month had helped him put the difficulties he had experienced earlier in the season behind him.

"I think the positive one is that his head’s now in a great place, because he suddenly believes he can win, and there’s lap time in that," he said.

"I think Lewis desperately wants to win. I think he’s tough on himself. He still takes too much to heart what’s said in the media," he added.