Whitmarsh says McLaren not giving up on championship just yet

The Woking-based outfit's title hopes suffered a major setback in Korea, with it scoring just a single point thanks to Hamilton's determined drive to 10th place on an afternoon when Sebastian Vettel took his third consecutive victory.

That result leaves Hamilton 62 points adrift of Vettel in the drivers' standings, with McLaren now 84 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' battle.

Although Hamilton concedes his title chances are effectively over, Whitmarsh is not throwing in the towel just yet.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about McLaren's championship chances with just four races to go, Whitmarsh said: "Incredibly tough is the answer.

"Just as Lewis did not give up in Korea, that should be the inspiration for the team.

"We are going to be fighting the final four races. We can win those races and that is all we can try and do.

"In motor racing you have some good days and you have some bad days, but I cannot remember it going much worse than this one.

"I think this is a resilient team and we have to make sure that we arrive in India with these issues behind us, that these issues of reliability are solved and that we do everything we can to go out there and win those races."

Hamilton endured a tough afternoon in Korea thanks to a rear anti-roll bar failure hampering his car's handling.

But he battled on to finish 10th for a single point with a performance that impressed Whitmarsh.

"The amount of commitment, the amount of dedication and the amount of absolute sheer determination to get one point, I cannot think of one point that had more perspiration, dedication and effort in it - it was incredible," he explained.

"We have to look for some positives in this. There is not much we can take which is positive, but his drive was truly a great one and I am immensely proud of him as I have told him."