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McLaren: We won't stop taking risks, despite this season's failures

McLaren insist they have no intention of telling Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to play it safe, despite a disappointing season so far.

THE McLAREN FORMULA One team has no intention of curbing its drivers’ attacking instincts, despite the fact that Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are all but out of this year’s world championship.

Button recently conceded that he has no hope of recapturing the title he first won two years ago, as he and Hamilton are 117 and 126 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel with only 150 left to race for.

However, when asked by the BBC whether his outfit would continue to take risks, McLaren’s managing director Jonathan Neale responded: “Yes, very much so. We’re dissatisfied with not winning but [Formula 1] is not a game of being risk-adverse.”

Button and Hamilton have each won two races this season but have also both retired twice. The title has been all but handed to the Red Bull team as Ferrari looks to develop its 2012 vehicle.

Neale, however, says his team remains in fine spirits and will keep developing this year’s car.

He added: “I think we have put up, at times, a very credible fight this year and we will continue to do that until the end of the season.

“It’s true you have to be good everywhere and there are lots of teams, including ourselves, who would look back at operational issues and race incidents [this season] and think, ‘if only’. That’s the nature of the sport.

“We’re not disheartened, downbeat or anything other than determined to win races between now and the start of next season.”

There’s much more on this story over on the BBC’s website here >

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