McLaren remain cautious ahead of Brazil

McLaren will not allow themselves to get too comfortable about their position in the world championship, despite Lewis Hamilton's Chinese Grand Prix win helping him open up a seven-point advantage going into the final round in Brazil.

Hamilton's margin over Felipe Massa means he needs just four points from the Interlagos race to guarantee himself the title. But even though a fifth-place finish should be fairly straightforward for Hamilton and his team, McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh is aware of the potential pitfalls that could hinder them.

"It is very easy not to finish a grand prix," explained Whitmarsh. "And, no one is going to go and beat Ferrari in Brazil. It is not a super comfortable position, but it is not a bad position going into the last grand prix.

"I think the way Lewis conducted himself over the course of this weekend - he had a lot of criticism flowing from last weekend, and he answered that. He was totally mature, he was driving within himself and that is how you win championships. He did a great job."

McLaren are evaluating a series of car updates for the final round of the season to try and help boost their performance – although a decision about whether or not they will be used will wait until later this week.

"Well, ordinarily given the pressures you have on the resources of the company you choose whether you want to use some of those resources developing a performance package," explained Whitmarsh. "I don't know what it will be at the moment because we are working on it.

"It may be nothing, but we have put the effort into primarily an aerodynamic package to enhance the efficiency of the car. And hopefully that is delivering while we have been away, and if it is we will have it on the car."

And Whitmarsh has praised the efforts and attitude of Hamilton, who faced huge pressure over the weekend amid criticisms of his driving tactics in the wake of the Japanese GP.

"I think you have to say that the whole weekend he just got on and dominated every session, so I don't think he was unduly affected by it (the criticism)," explained Whitmarsh. "I had several drivers come to me to say that they didn't really say what was reported and it was taken out of context.

"You learn in this industry and in these situations, if you are at the top of your game people are going to be more critical of you. That goes with the territory. It is the same for this team – if we stumble as a team then we will probably get panned to a much greater extent that some of the smaller teams. But on balance I would rather have that than the other."

Dennis would take Ferrari 1-2 in Brazil