McLaren will push until the very end of the 2012 season, despite their chances of winning the Drivers’ and/or Constructors’ titles almost non-existent.
A resurgent Red Bull has toppled McLaren as the fastest team which enjoyed a string of wins which included three in a row prior to the Japanese Grand Prix – something Sebastian Vettel has now achieved with Red Bull in the last three races.
This hasn’t diminished McLaren’s hopes of winning the final four GP’s of the season, according to sporting director Sam Michael, who insists the Woking team won’t give up.
“We’re going to push to the end. Our target at McLaren is to win every race, and we’ll do our best to achieve that,” he said on Wednesday during a Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes phone-in.
“Red Bull took quite a big step across Singapore and Suzuka, so they will be tough competitors, but our target is still to beat them.
“The gaps are very small now, so it only takes one or two tenths to swing from one way to another. It will usually swing from one race to another.
“We do believe we can take the challenge to them; we are turning up trying to finish first and second in the last four races.”
Michael also offered reassurance that their push wouldn’t damage their chances in 2013, as much of the development work will be carried over due to the stable regulations.
“Most of the development work we do on this car will carry over anyway,” he added. “Although there are different programmes, there is quite a lot of transfer so it is not that big of a decision to decide to continue developing the 2012 car.”
