McLaren yet to decide if to pursue appeal

The stewards denied McLaren their constructors' points from the Hungarian Grand Prix after ruling the team had acted in qualifying on Saturday in a manner "considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally."

McLaren notified the stewards within an hour that they will appeal the decision, but Dennis himself already hinted after yesterday's race that the team are uncertain they will pursue this route.

And, with reports suggesting that Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has already ruled out the appeal going through, Dennis moved to clarify the team will only reach a decision about it today, when back in the factory.

"We truly have done nothing other than maintain the concept of withdrawing the appeal as an option," Dennis said last night. "We will discuss it internally.

"It's frustrating to go away from here without any constructors' points, but it was a very good damage limitation exercise. We lost eight points of our advantage.

"We will look at everything very, very calmly over the course of the next 24 hours and will then decide whether to pursue the path of appeal."

Dennis remained adamant, however, that the team did not act in the manner accorded to them by the stewards.

"We have done some work and explained in our press release that the stewards were very correct in saying that we held Fernando and there were only four cars on the circuit," Dennis explained.

"But the reality was that there were five cars who were going to rejoin the circuit, and it's making sure that you're not behind those cars is the reason you adopt the process of holding the car.

"But clearly - even as was apparent by the fact that Fernando only crossed the start-line with less than a second to go and Lewis failed to do so - it was clearly not part of our plan nor consistent with the discussions that we'd had in the previous 24 hours."

Dennis also said it was vital the team regrouped before the next Grand Prix and put the strains of the Hungaroring weekend behind them.

"Between now and the next Grand Prix, we will definitely try and put some calmness in the team and arrive in Turkey in a more tranquil environment than we experienced this weekend."