- McLaren
2015 driver line-up not McLaren's priority
Ron Dennis says McLaren does not have signed and sealed contracts with any drivers for 2015 and that it is not its priority.
After news broke that Sebastian Vettel will leave Red Bull and head to Ferrari next year, speculation over Fernando Alonso joining McLaren was reignited. McLaren has been waiting on developments in the driver market before making a decision on its line-up for 2015 - leaving Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen in the cold - but Dennis said McLaren has no done deals for next year.
"We do not have a contract with any driver at this moment in time. It isn't our priority," Dennis said. "Of course we talk and do all the things you'd expect us to do, but at this moment in time we do not have contracts that we have activated - because clearly we have driver contracts at the moment [with existing drivers].
"It's not a great position to be in if you're Jenson or Kevin, but the reality is they understand our priority is to produce a winning car that they can win with. The answer is simple, we don't have a contract with any driver in respect to next year. That's a simple factual statement.
"The first thing we have to be is massively attractive to all drivers and I hope we are very attractive to the two drivers who are currently and more than likely will be driving the cars next year."
Dennis said McLaren's priority is making its car competitive in 2015 and that joining forces with Honda under a works engine deal is a big part of that.
"If we had a car with which any driver could win a grand prix, and that clearly isn't the case at this moment, then both Kevin and Jenson could win in it. If you aren't in that position you don't actually start regaining competitiveness by addressing the part of your organisation that is doing a more than capable job. You start by understanding what is it that we lack as a grand prix team and what should we address.
"The one thing that jumps at you if you look at all the qualifications that we've had this year is the difference between the Mercedes works team and the other teams. By and large it's always a second and that's putting aside the pace they can generate in a grand prix when they're on the back foot.
"What that means is, my opinion - an opinion held by many people in our organisation - is you have no chance of winning a world championship if you are not receiving the best engines from whoever is manufacturing your engine. A modern grand prix engine at this moment in time is not just about sheer power; it's about how you harvest the energy, store the energy and effectively if you don't have control of that process then you are not going to be able to stabilise your car in the entry to corners, for instance, and you lose lots of lap time. So even though you have the same brand of engine you do not have the ability to optimise the engine."
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