Magnussen: Ron Dennis pressure positive for McLaren F1 team

Dennis criticised McLaren's lead driver Jenson Button ahead of the British Grand Prix, saying he expected the 2009 world champion to try harder to fend off the challenge posed by rookie team-mate Magnussen.

Button hit back, saying the team should pull together rather than singling out individuals for criticism, and responded on track at Silverstone by helping to deliver McLaren's best combined result since the season-opening Australian GP with a fourth placed finish.

Magnussen, who finished seventh in that race, feels criticism from Dennis will help energise McLaren to improve following a largely difficult start to the season.

"It's good that Ron is putting pressure on us, that's what is good about Ron being there," Magnussen said.

"It puts pressure on everyone and you know you have to deliver, so I hope everyone in the team feels the same way because we are a good team - we just need to deliver everything we can.

"We need to extract everything we can out of ourselves and do the best job possible, and that's the effect Ron has.

"I think it's positive he has this energy about him."

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said Dennis applying pressure to the team is nothing new, and simply an expression of his competitive nature.

"Ron has historically always pushed everybody," Boullier said.

"He's a great competitor, he loves to win, and when you want to win you have to push yourself and everybody in the right direction.

"Everybody in the team has this positive pressure to make sure we will be winning again soon."