Team failed to score a point for the first time in 64 races
Monday 17 June 2013 15:31, UK
Sam Michael says McLaren were hurt by their performance in Canada after they failed to finish in the points with either car for the first time in 64 races.
During commentary on the Canadian GP, Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle said it is important McLaren work out what the design issues are with their current car before focussing on 2014 and Michael insists McLaren are not writing this season off yet. "I don't think you ever get to a point where you write it off - we will always be pushing to improve the car and get good results right to the end," the 42-year-old said. "In terms of bringing development parts to the car, the August shutdown is going to be a natural point for most teams to start ramping down this year and putting everything into 2014." Some McLaren fans have called for changes in personnel in some of the senior positions at the team, but Michael does not expect heads to roll. "If you focus on sacking people, to start with you have to be very careful because first of all you could sack the wrong people and secondly the people who are responsible for this car are part of this company and they are committed to it," he said. "They are very good engineers and designers who have produced very good cars in the past and they are going to be the best people to fix this car and produce another very good car in the future."
