Upbeat McLaren 'have closed gap' on Red Bull & Ferrari

Italian GP in 90 seconds

By David Ornstein

McLaren are confident that significant improvements to their car will put them on a par with Red Bull and Ferrari at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

They hope upgrades including a new front wing will see them keep pace with their title rivals on the type of track they have struggled on thus far.

"It's a big weekend," McLaren's chief engineer Phil Prew told BBC Sport.

"They are some big upgrades and I'm confident we've closed the gap. The race will be very close."

Lewis Hamilton's first-lap retirement at the Italian Grand Prix saw the McLaren replaced at the top of the drivers' championship by Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button finished second to overtake Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in the standings, but the reigning world champion was in turn leapfrogged by race-winner Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

606: DEBATE I would not like to be Mark Webber right now... we all know the McLaren are faster on race day and they have also got updates to suit the next five races, so in my books that makes them the car to beat glen naude

That has left Hamilton second on 182 points, five adrift of Webber, Alonso third with 166 points, one ahead of Button, and Vettel fifth on 163.

With five races remaining this season and 25 points on offer for a win, it promises to be an enthralling climax to the season.

"Any driver who is able to finish the remaining five races in a competitive position - i.e. top three, top four - is going to be dangerous," stated Prew.

"It comes down to consistency and if any one of the five drivers in contention has a string of five good results they will be in a very strong position to challenge for the title.

"Our target now is to get 10 race finishes - five for each driver - and if we achieve that we've got as good a shout as anybody."

McLaren's optimism stems from the modifications they bring with them to Singapore.

The Woking-based team have been working to improve their car's performance at high downforce, slow speed tracks such as Marina Bay Street Circuit - the venue for Sunday's race - Korea and Abu Dhabi - two of the following four race venues.

At the most recent circuit featuring such characteristics - the Hungaroring on 1 August - McLaren were nearly two seconds slower than Red Bull, and half a second off the pace of Ferrari.

"We're optimistic that the gap in Hungary, which was massive by Formula 1 standards, should well have reduced," explained Prew.

"Coming out of Hungary we all recognised the pace wasn't where it needed to be and since then we've had a whole number of upgrades on the car, some of which were run at Spa and Monza and they will carry over to this race.

"We have further upgrades that we'll see here in Singapore, which is a new front wing and other devices looking to increase the downforce on the car.

"Also, our understanding of the car - how to exploit the upgrades and how to get the downforce to work for us - has improved since Hungary.

"Our target is to be the fastest car but only time will tell if we've done enough. Hopefully what we've added to the car over the last six weeks will be sufficient to close the gap up."

Prew admitted the resurfacing of the bumpy Marina Bay Street Circuit was good news for McLaren - "our car does prefer the smoother circuits," he said - and suggested the more stringent regulations on flexible bodywork might now be felt by Red Bull and Ferrari.

Some teams believed the pair had flexible floors on their cars that allowed their front wings to run below the minimum ride-height and gain an aerodynamic advantage.

There was a tougher load test on those floors at Monza and all the teams have had to strengthen that part of their cars as a result.

"The regulations in place now mean that it should be a level playing field and everyone knows the constraints we have to operate to," added Prew. "That's good for the sport and the teams.

"The advantage that was felt to be being gained by Red Bull and Ferrari in Hungary, with the new regulations, will be harder to exploit if that is indeed what they're doing."