McLaren not allowing itself to get frustrated over championship defeat

Instead, he says the team will head to the final three races of the year determined to arrest Sebastian Vettel's dominance and deliver at least one more win before the winter break.

"Frustration and disappointment, those things are not the most useful emotions to have," explained Whitmarsh, who saw McLaren slip to 101 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship in India.

"We have three races to go. India was a solid performance where we were quick at the end but not quick enough at the beginning.

"We have under-performed in the couple of races coming here, so the motivation is very high.

"You can sense it in Lewis [Hamilton], you can sense it is everyone in the team. We want to go out and win some more races before the end of this year. That is what we will focus on."

Whitmarsh believes McLaren and Ferrari made things too easy for the dominant Sebastian Vettel in India, allowing the German a trouble free run to his fourth consecutive victory.

"If you are at the front you can look after the tyres, you can look after everything," he said. "So I think we made it all too easy for him.

"We needed to get up there and give him a harder time at the start and we were not able to make that stick.

"Jenson's start was very good, and our two guys were fighting each other and Fernando. I think having Fernando, Lewis and Jenson fighting over the first lap was probably the dream ticket for Red Bull to get away.

"If you can do that, running in clean air, with probably Seb not feeling too threatened by the car behind him, then that is is."