Martin Whitmarsh says title is still possible for McLaren despite gap to Vettel

Vettel continues to keep a stronghold on the championship ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver 88 points ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and 100 ahead of Jenson Button, winner of the last race in Hungary.

Whitmarsh, whose team has won the last two races, insists McLaren is not focusing on the championship but rather on trying to win all the remaining grands prix.

He conceded it will be difficult to beat Vettel, but he is adamant that it is not out of the question.

"I think it's though, but it's possible," Whitmarsh told AUTOSPORT. "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.

"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.

"I'd like a one-two and it'd be handy if a Red Bull was not the third car on the podium if we get a one-two, and so we'd welcome Ferrari on the podium as well. We never give up. We've never been a quitter and this time isn't one.

"Whatever happens we are going to try to win every race and that's the great challenge."

Whitmarsh made it clear it is impossible to predict how the rest of the season will go, but he is sure his team will give it its best shot.

"If you had asked me in Australia to give you a prediction I couldn't have given you one. What I can predict is that we will be working bloody hard trying to win every race that we can. We have two great drivers, a great team, the car's not bad, we've made some good progress.

"We can keep this momentum and them we can win more races and the championship is possible. Tough, but possible."

Whitmarsh also believes Hamilton is fired up now he has a winning car following a season full of ups and downs.

"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 laptime 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 has a little bit too much sensitivity about that. But he will learn. At the same time he is a young man, he gets a lot more attention, a lot more pressure, a lot more expectation.

"We are trying to help, we are trying to work with the media. I'm probably a bit more cynical than Lewis, but the same time I probably don't get quite the battering that Lewis usually gets."