McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh predicted a thrilling fight for this year’s Formula One world championship.

The McLaren boss was quick to confirm that he believed his drivers would be involved all the way after his defending champion Jenson Button finished second behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber leads the standings on 187 points from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (182) with Alonso jumping to third on 166 points – Button occupies fourth place one point further back. In the constructors championship, Red Bull lead on 350 points from McLaren (347) and Ferrari (290).

Whitmarsh promised his team will give everything they can to grab glory in both the drivers’ and teams’ title races.

After seeing Alonso steal a narrow win thanks to a phenomenal Ferrari pit-stop, Whitmarsh was understandably defensive about McLaren’s decision to call in Button one lap before Alonso.

He said: “The timing of pit-stops is always an inexact science but, once we saw that Robert (Kubica) was immediately lapping quicker on ‘prime’ tyres after his pit-stop, we resolved to put Jenson on primes straight away.

“That was a logical and therefore sensible thing to do. But, even so, Fernando was just able to squeeze ahead when he made his pitstop.”

Whitmarsh said he still felt McLaren’s British duo had a great chance to win the championship.

“Looking forward, there are five more rounds to go and the points are extremely close,” he said.

“So it’s all to play for.”

Five races remain – in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, where the final round takes place on November 14.

Heidfeld

Nick Heidfeld has rejoined Sauber, replacing Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa with immediate effect.

The 33-year-old German has been drafted in for the five final races of the season to race for the team he left in 2009.

Heidfeld had joined Mercedes at the start of the season as back-up but left them mid-season to work for tyre manufacturer Pirelli.