McLaren have hit back at comments from former team boss Martin Whitmarsh in which he criticised the team and described their current situation as "desperately sad".
Whitmarsh held the position of team boss between 2010 and 2014 but was replaced by Ron Dennis and then the current Eric Boullier/Zak Brown partnership.
In his comments, Whitmarsh called on the team to make some high-level changes, telling the Daily Mail: "It needs a big change of approach. There is too much politics between the main figures. I think a number of them have to go."
In response, a McLaren spokesperson told Sky Sports that the criticism was "ill-informed".
"Martin worked for McLaren for many years, but has been outside the business for some time and is not part of our future.
"What he said was ill-judged and ill-informed in our view but he is entitled to his opinion.
"There are high expectations in the team and we won't compromise those high expectations.
"Everyone at McLaren is working tremendously hard and is focused on the future, not the past," they added in response to Whitmarsh's revelation that he would be open to returning to the team.
