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McLaren: No heads will roll

LONDON, England - McLaren's sporting director Sam Michael has hit back at claims that heads should roll at McLaren as the team endures one of its worst starts yet in a Formula 1 GP championship campaign.

Having erred in 2013, with a radical new car for the final season of V8 regulations the team, can no longer count itself among the top four teams in F1.

Michael, who left Williams in 2011 amid that team's worst title campaign, said McLaren was taking a cautious approach to the question of sackings.

MOVING FORWARD


Michael said: "You have to be very careful. First you could sack the wrong people and, second, the people who are responsible for this car are part of this company and committed to it.

"They are very good engineers and designers who have produced very good cars in the past and are going to be the best people to fix this car and produce another very good car in the future."

The fact that McLaren needs to fix its flawed MP4-28 cars is crucial; there have even been calls for the team to abandon 2013 and focus on the huge challenge of 2014 and its change to smaller V6 engines.

Lead driver Jenson Button said: "Although the 2014 cars will be different, we need to understand the current car to take that step forward. We also want to win races in 2013.

"That goes for everybody who works at McLaren."

Michael also said it was simplistic to suggest that McLaren should simply write off 2013 and focus on a fresh start. "I don't think you ever get to a point where you write it off - we will be pushing to improve the car and get good results right to the end.

"In terms of bringing development parts to the car, the August (factory) shutdown is going to be a natural point for most teams to start ramping down this year and putting everything into 2014."

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2013 F1 season – fresh reports every day.
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