In the wake of Lewis Hamilton's frustrating weekend in Melbourne, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale has promised that the team will "step up" its performance.

Having failed to make it through to Q3, Hamilton drove what he described as, and many agree, one of the races of his life on Sunday. However, the decision to call him in for a second tyre stop was to end any hope of a podium finish. Talking over the team radio in the final laps, and to TV broadcasters at the end of the race, the 2008 champion made his frustration clear. That frustration further compounded by the fact that his teammate, Jenson Button, who stopped only once, won the race.

Speaking in a phone-in press conference earlier today, Neale promised that the Woking team has taken Hamilton's comments on board and will act accordingly.

"I completely understand why Lewis was frustrated," he said. "Every time Lewis comes in he has left nothing on the circuit and it is up to us to step up and follow him."

While some argue that Hamilton was wrong to publicly criticise his team, Neale can relate to the youngster's obvious frustration and anger.

"If our driver is frustrated because we have done something, made a mistake or put him in a situation that is difficult in the race, then we have to look at ourselves and say 'did we do the best to get the job done for him?' He said. "If the driver is frustrated, it is our job to do something better to support them.

"Do I think with the benefit of hindsight we got that wrong in Melbourne? Yes," he continued. "But that's just the way it is when you get split-second or 30-second decisions to make."

Looking ahead to Malaysia and beyond, Neale was asked about (team boss) Martin Whitmarsh's claim that Red Bull's advantage over its rival is partly down to a device which alters the car's ride height.

"I don't think there are any silver bullets as to why Red Bull are particularly quick," said Neale. "F1 is F1, it relies on horsepower and downforce.

"We can look at tyres and see how we can get the best out of those but I'm not obsessed by ride-height control, however, I know if we bolted on another 20 points of downforce we would go quicker. Our principle focus is just to bring aerodynamic upgrades to the car under these regulations to give us some more traction and greater return from the tyres."