Mat Coch writes:

They may have won in China thanks to Lewis Hamilton, but McLaren still believe Red Bull is the team to beat. That's the opinion of Chief Engineer Phil Prew who has suggested that the result in China, while promising, masks the fact that the Woking team is still playing catch up.

"I think that we're between three-tenths and half-a-second off the pace of Red Bull," he confessed during the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Phone-In.

One reason for the comparative lack of pace, especially during qualifying, could be due to Red Bull's blown floor. An elaborate engine map coupled with a sophisticated exhaust design may give the Milton Keynes team the edge when it comes to downforce, suspects Prew. However, an experienced engineer he freely admits that there is likely no single answer, suggesting tyre wear rates are another possibility.

In China, race winner Hamilton completed just a single timed lap in the final phase of qualifying in an effort to save tyres for the race. Mark Webber, by contrast, enjoyed three sets of fresh option (soft) tyres as a result of qualifying eighteenth. A strong race from the Australian, a result of an abundance of fresh rubber, led some to speculate that teams would sacrifice grid position in order to conserve tyres, an idea Prew discounts.

"Tyre degradation is going to be a large factor in Turkey. There are some benefits of having new tyres available to you, however, I think the competitiveness of the field will force you to run your ultimate new tyres through qualifying.

"Our position would always be to take qualifying position over the new tyres in the race. I am not discounting what we did with Lewis in China, for example, but we were fortunate to get through Q1 and Q2 with a single set of options. But I don't think not competing in Q3 for tyre saving is the right thing to do."

Updates for the Turkish Grand Prix are hoped to bring the team closer to Red Bull, though the team is aware that others have also been working feverishly. "We don't have the fastest car at the moment," Prew concedes, "the Red Bulls are still the team that we're aiming to close the gap on.

"We're fully aware that we need to chase down the Red Bulls and also keep a weary eye on the cars behind like Ferrari, Mercedes and indeed the Renaults," he added.

"I think Turkey will be a reasonably strong track for ourselves, and if the developments deliver performance, and we utilise the tyres well, I think we can continue to be competitive. Of course I'm conscious that everybody else will be aiming to improve their car at the same time."

McLaren currently lies second in the Constructors' Championship, twenty points behind leaders Red Bull and thirty-five clear of Ferrari in third. Drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button sit second and third in the drivers' title fight, twenty-one and thirty points behind Sebastian Vettel respectively.