26/07/2011
NEWS STORY
Just two weeks after sections of the media claimed he was about to be given his marching orders, Martin Whitmarsh has overseen a magnificent McLaren victory.
In the wake of a poor showing at Silverstone, the Daily Mail claimed that by the end of the summer break Whitmarsh would be history, while other sections of the media agreed but without going so far as to name the date.
As Pitpass explained at the time, much of the speculation followed an amazing mea culpa the McLaren team boss offered at Silverstone - on the evening before the British Grand Prix. Many of the assembled journalists, among them some of Fleet Street's biggest hitters, not used to team bosses accepting that the buck rests with the boss, took the mea culpa to be the foundation for a resignation speech, within hours the story was snowballing.
On Saturday, in Germany, before Lewis Hamilton put his car on the front row of the grid, admittedly after writing off his own chances, Eddie Jordan suggested to Whitmarsh that the wheels were falling off McLaren, the Englishman doing well to maintain his reserve as the Irishman sought to score another cheap point in front of the cameras.
Other than that fine qualifying performance however, Hamilton was to take a superb win, the Woking outfit's perfect day marred only by a hydraulics problem that sidelined teammate Button. Therefore, it's understandable, that Whitmarsh should have a spring in his step as he heads towards Hungary.
Asked, following Sunday's win if it brought him just that little bit more satisfaction, he replied: "If I said it didn't I'd be lying. I have got to stand in front of the whole team and it is much more fun when you have won. But we can do better, we can be better than this."
"We are never going to be satisfied, even with a win," he added. "We are not going to be satisfied until we are winning all the races. We are going to keep pushing and it is going to be a great championship."
"Before Ferrari's win two weeks ago and ours (on Sunday) everyone was talking about a runaway championship," he continued. "Ferrari are going to be strong for the rest of the year I'm very sure, and hopefully we will as well and can make this another fantastic championship like we had last year."
As for the world champion, who heads to Hungary with a 77 point lead, he admitted: "We cannot bring about his failure. All we can do is put the pressure on him, and I think Sebastian made a couple of mistakes here."