McLaren to dig deep

Ron Dennis If Max Mosley has proof Dennis leaked his sexcapades to the News of The World as some suspect, McLaren will never win it all – paybacks are a bitch

Ron Dennis, the McLaren team principal, has called on everyone at the team to give Lewis Hamilton the best possible chance of securing the Formula One drivers' championship.

The 23-year-old Englishman failed to capitalize on a golden chance to extend his lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday when he finished 12th, having started in pole position.

Fortunately for Hamilton, Massa could only manage to collect two points from the race having finished eighth before being promoted to seventh following Sebastien Bourdais' penalty.

Hamilton and Massa came together on the second lap at the Fuji Speedway circuit when the Brazilian ran wide at the chicane before colliding with Hamilton when trying to regain his place, and Dennis believes that the outcome of the race was not as bad as it might have been for Hamilton.

He said: "All in all, as far as the championship is concerned, I guess things could have been worse, but there is no getting away from the fact it was a disappointing weekend.

"However, Lewis is still five points clear in the drivers' championship with two races to go. I know that our whole team will dig deep from here on in. The fact is Hamilton is a great driver, we will fight for the world championship but sometimes it is a bit of an uphill struggle."

Stewards handed Hamilton a drive-through penalty when he was deemed to have impeded Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner at the start of the race, and Dennis admitted he was dumbfounded by the decision.

He added: "It was a very challenging day. We were a bit surprised that Lewis was given a penalty in respect of the first-corner incident, simply because we have all seen similar incidents that have triggered no such penalty.

"Drivers miss breaking points and run wide. These things happen. Everyone had the same problem. As far as we are concerned, it was just a racing incident. We were in very good shape for the race, so it is very frustrating." The Herald