“I think it would mean so much to everyone who works for McLaren if we were to win the championship. But, whether we win the championship or finish second, everyone has already done a fantastic job to take us from where we were 12 months ago to where we are now: in contention for the championship,” said Dennis ahead of the season finale at Interlagos.
McLaren were in the same situation last year – except for the constructors' race – with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso both leading the drivers' classification before the last race of the season. Nevertheless, McLaren lost the title to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen after the Brit finished on a disappointing 7th place and Alonso crossing the finish line in 3rd place.
Dennis admitted that his team will face immense criticism if the situation were to happen again this year but said that such a reaction would be normal coming from the media.
“I know that, if we finish second, some elements of the media will criticize us. They won't look at the extraordinary recovery that put us in a position to potentially win the championship this year. But I understand that. It's just the media doing their job. A professional journalist's craft is to paint a picture in different shadows, tones and textures, and to create different perspectives. I accept that. These things used to upset me in the past, but now they don't,” added the McLaren boss.
In the end, Dennis advised the media to think differently when criticizing his team, suggesting that motorsport journalists should only keep an eye on sporting issues rather that question his team's integrity.
“Knock us for our mistakes, by all means, but don't knock us for a lack of integrity or a lack of commitment to the sport. Because, whether we win the championship or finish second, we've demonstrated huge integrity and enormous commitment to the sport”.
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