McLaren abandon thoughts of 'going radical' in 2014

McLaren's recent performance upswing has persuaded the team to continue their current development of the MP4-29, according to racing director Eric Boullier.

Boullier suggested back in May that the team might turn their attention to more radical concepts if progress had not been made by the British round, but having scored fourth and seventh places at Silverstone - and collected their biggest points haul since the season opener in Australia - the Frenchman feels such an approach is no longer necessary.

"Actually, it has gone better than expected," he said during a McLaren Mercedes teleconference on Wednesday.

"The path we have now decided to follow is to push a bit further.

"The upgrade package that was originally planned for Silverstone - but actually went to Austria - is doing well, so now we are pushing to bring every upgrade one race earlier. So in Germany we'll bring more upgrades than originally scheduled.

"There won't be any radical change now. We're going to push as hard and as long as possible the development of this car as long as we can carry the concepts over to next year's car."

In other news, Boullier confirmed that the teams received a technical directive from the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting regarding the legality of Front-and-Rear Interconnected Suspension (FRIC) systems.

These systems, which most teams are understood to use, help improve performance by maintaining a constant ride height, but the governing body is understood to believe that some systems may contravene the technical regulations.

Speaking about the possibility that FRIC systems may be banned, perhaps even during this season, Boullier said: "It came as a surprise - most, if not all, of the teams on the grid use this kind of suspension.

"Some teams may have gone extreme which is maybe why the FIA is examining this kind of system. In the case of McLaren, we are quite relaxed to be honest - I can't see any issue for that with us.

"I don't know the secrets in terms of the designs used by other teams. I think in most of the teams it would not be a game-changer, but there are maybe a couple of teams that have gone extreme and may be in trouble if (they have to) switch back to a non-connective system."