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McLaren Consider Scrapping 2009 Programme

McLaren's poor results in the past few grands prix has determined the team's officials to consider scrapping their 2009 programme and start developing a race winning car for the 2010 season. although not officially admitted by team principal Martin Whitmarsh, the decision on this year's car is likely to depend on the outcome of the upcoming Turkish Grand Prix.

However, McLaren have never been quite competitive at Istanbul, therefore they do not expect an impressive performance this year either. According to several sources from within the Woking based team, all people at McLaren are well aware of the fact that the MP4-24 is lacking aerodynamic performance this year, and this is something the Turkish circuit is very demanding of.

Without practically spelling it out, Whitmarsh admitted the time for such a decision is to arrive soon. Although it will be hard for a race winning team like McLaren, scrapping an entire campaign before its very half might prove the right decision for the future.

That is one of the possibilities, but we haven't yet arrived at that point. We are still going to all the races with the intention to win. Giving up is not our style. Perhaps for formula one it is not bad that Ferrari and McLaren are struggling, as it demonstrates that winning in this sport is very difficult,” said Whitmarsh.

McLaren are currently 5th overall in the constructors' classification, some massive 73 points behind championship leaders Brawn GP, while Hamilton is also some 42 points short of leading the series, behind fellow countryman Jenson Button.
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