London: McLaren insist that they will not so much as think about imposing team orders on their drivers during the latter part of the season in an attempt to catch Red Bull's runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

As Formula One's exhausted foot soldiers filed out of Hungary, ready for the annual mid-season break, talk turned to whether or not Vettel could be caught when the circus reconvenes at Spa-Francorchamps.

With an 85-point lead over teammate Mark Webber — and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton a further three points back — the German is likely to need more than his fair share of bad luck if he is to trip up, while it will also require a monumental effort from one team over the final eight races to beat Red Bull consistently.

McLaren, who have won three of the last five grands prix, look well placed for more victories. But with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton separated by just 12 points, and with both having won twice this year, the two drivers are costing each other points.

‘Maintain the gap'

Vettel, by contrast, has beaten Webber at ten of the 11 races this year and when Webber threatened to pass him towards the end of the British Grand Prix last month, the team ordered the Australian to "maintain the gap".

Team orders were made legal this season. McLaren's drivers have fought a number of skirmishes during this campaign and they have not always ended well. Hamilton retired after a collision with Button in Canada, while the pair scrapped over the lead for a number of laps in Hungary before Button finally prevailed.

It is open to debate whether Red Bull would have allowed their drivers that luxury.

McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said it was not their concern. "We are not about to compromise our values and what we believe with our racing at McLaren," Neale said. "A number of teams have made the observation that we make championships harder for ourselves, but we are about winning races.

"I believe Lewis and Jenson are both driving better as a result of having each other in the team and being allowed to run like that.

"When we were in Canada we let them get on with it and had a coming together. It's risky but when you have back-to-back world champions, you have to respect they are the ones there in the moment.

"Everybody has to run their team by their rules but if you go back through our history that is the way that we go about racing. We are still in entertainment and it's important that we do that for the fans."

Speaking of the pair's duel at the Hungaroring in the last race, Neale added: "It was so stressful on the pit wall. The mechanics in the garage were looking at it and wincing. But you have to have confidence in the drivers. There is no attempt to step in or interfere." Button, whose victory in Hungary leaves him 100 points behind Vettel — the equivalent of four unanswered race wins — insisted the championship situation was not hopeless.

‘No chance'

"It's a hard task for me," he said. "If you look at the table you say ‘no chance' but if I take it race by race like I did [in Hungary], go out and have fun and try to win, it can happen."

Button added that he was looking forward to the next two races at Spa and Monza, which he anticipates will favour McLaren over Red Bull.

"Monza was a good race last year that didn't quite work out for me [Button came second to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso] and Spa we won as a team," he said. "Lewis won and I would have been second until I was punted off. We have a new package and we have been testing it at the last three races to get data. Fingers crossed that will work for us."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, meanwhile, says he will sit down with Webber during the break to discuss an extension to the 34-year-old's contract, which ends this year. "Both sides are keen to continue," he said.