Jenson Button and Martin Whitmarsh have admitted the final two races before F1's summer break are crucial for McLaren to close the gap in the title race.
Button and Whitmarsh stress importance of final races before break
McLaren are targeting the upcoming back-to-back races to demonstrate a return to form to ensure they remain firmly in the title hunt when Formula 1 breaks for the summer at the end of the month.
The Woking squad appear to have been leapfrogged by big development pushes by chief rivals Red Bull and Ferrari since setting the pace at the start of the season with the team also outpaced by Lotus and Mercedes in race conditions last time out at Silverstone.
Jenson Button, whose personal slump in form stretches back all the way to Bahrain in April, admits it's crucial that McLaren responds to its recent struggles in Hockenheim and the Hungaroring - although on the bright side reckons the MP4-27 isn't as bad as recent results would suggest.
"The final back-to-back before we head into the summer break will be important for the whole team: coming off the back of a couple of disappointing weekends, it's important that we capitalise on the opportunities available in Germany and Hungary.
"Performance-wise, I still think it's difficult to accurately predict where we stand in the competitive order - Valencia and Silverstone were certainly difficult races for us, but I don't think they were truly representative of our pace.
"This year, you really need a problem-free build-up to the race if you're going to maximise the car's potential - and that's exactly what we'll be hoping for in Germany next weekend."
McLaren's worst two-car finish since 2009 last weekend ensured the team slipped from second to fourth in the Constructors' Championship, some 74 points adrift of Red Bull, and further off the pace in the Drivers' standings with Lewis Hamilton.
Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh says the Woking outfit have wasted little timing in looking backwards and will continue to sustain a "aggressive" development programme in a bid to get back to the front quickly.
"Of course, after Silverstone, our focus immediately turned to Hockenheim, which, along with the Hungaroring in Budapest, will bring the curtain down on the first half of the season at the end of the month," he said.
"There is a huge resolve within the operation to ensure that our aggressive development strategy is upheld across the summer: we are determined to narrow the gap to the championship leaders before the start of the summer break."
