McLaren: Title fight will remain close

Although the team fell behind Red Bull and Ferrari last time out in Hungary, the team's managing director Jonathan Neale pledges that it is working flat out on developing the MP4-25 back into play.

"It's very close in the championship at this stage," said Neale during the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in. "We under-performed in Hungary and the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull was significant, which has caused us to go back and take stock.

"The coming races will be a straight development race - as we knew they would be at the beginning of the year with so many drivers so close. It depends on what we can invent between now and the end of the season.

"Given our performance in Hungary, going back to circuits with similar characteristics would be concerning, but we're working very hard to do something about that. We expect an upgrade package for Singapore, and if the title race is as close as it is at the moment, we'll expect to be taking a development package to the last race."

But Neale says the changes to the rules in recent seasons have made it more difficult for teams to close down their rivals.

"The regulation changes in the last couples of years have meant that there are far fewer devices on the car, so everybody is working on floors, wings and details down the sides of the car," he said. "We are continuing in that vain.

"An issue that all the teams are facing is that we've signed up for cost reduction, and are implementing that this year. We have to preserve resources for next year and it means you can't spend your way out of trouble any more - that's a concern for all the teams in the championship."