New upgrades for McLaren

The McLaren team will be boosted this weekend by a new aerodynamic package that will be used by the team for the first time.

The package has changed the visual look of the cars sidepods and whilst those changing might be the most noticeable, there are said to be other notable alterations which the team hope will give both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button the opportunity to return to the top step of the podium.

'We're going to the next two races trying to win, as we go to every race. McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told the BBC.

But while McLaren's main focus has been on trying to get the McLaren back into contention for the Formula One World Championship, the media have been more interested in where 2008 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton will be driving next season.

The British driver is out of contract at McLaren at the end of this season and he has previously been linked with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

However earlier this month Red Bull extended Australian Mark Webber's contract until the end of the 2013 season, whilst reports have suggested that Fernando Alonso has 'vetoed' having Hamilton as his team-mate at Ferrari.

That leaves Hamilton with little choice if he was looking elsewhere for 2013, although McLaren have remained confident that Hamilton would remain within the team.

'We've known Lewis for a long time. We have been concentrating on a season. There has been more speculation, more concern, more interest in this situation in the media than perhaps within the team or within Lewis's mind.

'We appear nowadays to be often asked questions about it, but I don't think it occupies as much time in our mind as it does in column inches.'

McLaren would appear to have fallen behind in the development race to Red Bull and Ferrari recently, but aerodynamic upgrades will be brought to Germany, Whitmarsh added: 'The sidepods from the front to the rear are quite different, so you'll notice those and [there are] other bits and pieces that the sharper eye will see.'

But as this season has previously shown, the teams performance will be heavily dependent on whether or not they can discover the Pirelli's sweet spot during the race to get the optimum performance from the tyre compounds in use.

'For everyone, not just McLaren, trying to understand and exploit the tyres correctly is proving quite a substantial challenge,' the McLaren team principle concluded.