McLaren: Title win still possible

After a slump in form following Hamilton's win in Canada last month, a big upgrade package introduced onto the MP4-27 last weekend at Hockenheim helped transform the team's competitiveness relative to chief rivals Ferrari and Red Bull in dry race conditions with Button storming from sixth on the grid to fight for the victory, ultimately finishing third on the road and then second in the official classification in wake of a post-race penalty for Sebastian Vettel.

Speaking in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in with media on the eve of the Hungarian GP, Neale, McLaren's Managing Director, revealed that the team had been "very pleased" with the performance of the new package in the dry and "everything that we took on the Friday that we wanted to stay on the car stayed on the car" for the race declared TimeXfun .

Neale is therefore optimistic both McLaren's British drivers will be able to challenge for victory around the Hungaroring but points out that, while the team may caught up over the past week, the development race won't let up over the coming months.

Asked if thought McLaren could qualify with both drivers on the front row this weekend, he replied: "As we head into this weekend are we expecting to lock out the front row? Expect, no. Hope? Of course.

"We believe we've got a competitive car. We've been focusing a lot on our race pace, because our qualifying pace was a little bit stronger than our race pace, and of course we believe both drivers have got a good chance of being very competitive and hopefully one of them can win this weekend.

"I think it's a very close grid and not withstanding whether the teams are able to exploit the conditions and the tyres, the relative upgrades - you don't need to bring very much to change the competitive order. Nobody at this stage in any of the teams is going to be backing out and diverting resource to next year or the year after.

"I think we're in for a very challenging race in Hungary and I suspect that the rate of development will be very strong throughout August to the middle of September as well. But think there's still a lot to go. I don't think it's static as I think the three top teams have got very competitive cars."

Although the team returned to the podium with Button in Germany, Fernando Alonso's second win in three races and lead McLaren points scorer Lewis Hamilton's early puncture and eventual retirement meant the team slipped further off the pace in the Drivers' standings - with Hamilton now 62 points adrift and Button a further 24 points back on the Ferrari number one.

Alonso, whose lead over nearest challenger Mark Webber is 34 points, is currently on a run of 22 consecutive points finishes stretching back to June 2011 and Neale admits, while his drivers can still overhaul the Spaniard in the remaining 10 rounds, McLaren must now string together a strong run of results.

"By improving our car and improving our consistency," he replied when asked how they were going to beat Alonso.

"We're under no illusions about how hard we have to work but there are still 400-odd points still to come in this championship and if we can get our drivers up there and I think save for our qualifying in the wet, which is disappointing in Q3, then I think both drivers were there to contest the race [in Germany].

"I was delighted for Jenson that he managed to achieve second place, and for the whole team. But it's going to be a long season still."

He said : "Whilst it's undeniable that Fernando's driven really well this season, if you look at the points conversion rate of the Red Bulls they're very strong. We have to get in amongst that mix."