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Whitmarsh still eyeing championship

McLaren has won three of the last five races to rekindle its championship hopes © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Martin Whitmarsh

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• McLaren

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh still believes the team can overhaul Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull in the driver's and constructor's championships.

Vettel currently holds an 85-point lead over his team-mate Mark Webber and is 88 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. With Red Bull having been dominant in the early part of the season, its lead in the constructor's championship is a substantial 103 points, but Whitmarsh says McLaren is targeting victory in every remaining race this season in order to close the gap.

"I think it's though, but it's possible," Whitmarsh told Autosport. "And winning races is tough, but I think all you can do is try to win every race, and you can't do more than that. It is difficult to pull back the gap, but it's possible. Of course people focus on the championship, but I think if you are not leading the championship then you can't worry too much about it.

"I'd like a one-two and it'd be handy if a Red Bull was not the third car on the podium if we get a one-two, and so we'd welcome Ferrari on the podium as well. We never give up. We've never been a quitter and this time isn't one. Whatever happens we are going to try to win every race and that's the great challenge."

Whitmarsh also said that the recent run of back-to-back McLaren wins had given the team momentum over the mid-season break, and that it needed to maintain it throughout the rest of the year.

"If you had asked my in Australia to give you a prediction I couldn't have given you one. What I can predict is that we will be working bloody hard trying to win every race that we can. We have two great drivers, a great team, the car's not bad, we've made some good progress. We can keep this momentum and then we can win more races and the championship is possible. Tough, but possible."

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