F1 team McLaren on Tuesday gave their thumbs-up to last season's performance of Chinese driver Cheng Congfu, but warned that he faces a key year in 2005.

McLaren started to support the 20-year-old Cheng last summer by sending him to race in the British Formula Renault Championship and arranged for F1 experts to give him guidance to fast-track his development.

McLaren, who have spent a big sum of money on supporting Cheng, expressed their satisfaction with Cheng's improvement, thinking he is getting better although still short of the top standings in the Renualt series.

Stuart Seymour, McLaren business development director, said that McLaren is looking at the options for next year, but warned that Cheng needs to hit higher gears in 2005.

"He wants to continue racing in the Renault series," said Seymour. "But next year will be important for him, he needs to be consistently successful."

Cheng has vowed to become the first Chinese driver to break into the F1, the summit of motor sport, saying his confidence comes from the support of such a strong team as McLaren.

Editor: Wing