After enduring a torrid start to their 2018 campaign, McLaren staff appear to have all but lost confidence in current race director Eric Boullier - and have demanded the return of former team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

A switch from Honda power to Renault engines before the start of this season had been heralded as a major step forward for the team, who have 20 world championships to their name. However, after claiming just 40 points from the first seven races of the season, McLaren staff are on the verge of mutiny.

The situation appears to have come to a head at the post-race debrief held earlier this week following the Canadian Grand Prix - where the team failed to record any points for the second successive race.

During the meeting, held at McLaren's Woking headquarters, Boullier was reported to have admitted that he could not even begin to explain the poor performance of their car. So concerned were McLaren team members at Boullier's startling admission that they immediately began to hatch a revolt and plot to engineer Whitmarsh's return to the team, according to the Daily Mail. 

Whitmarsh, 60, spent five seasons at the McLaren helm between 2009 and 2013, and maintains a good relationship with major shareholder Mansour Ojjeh - and revealed he has spoken to Ojjeh at length about the situation.

"I piled in a little bit," he explained. "I love the team and I am desperately sad to see what it has become...It needs a big change of approach. There is too much politics between the main figures. I think a number of them have to go. I have explained my view to Mansour and it is for the shareholders to decide what to do."

The recent calls for the return of Whitmarsh are far from the first time that he has been suggested as a solution to McLaren's woes - a letter calling for the reinstatement of Whitmarsh was apparently penned by beleaguered staff members last year.

"People at McLaren said they would send me a letter about the situation. I told them not to send it to me, but to Mansour.' The anonymous letter was sent last year.

"The team used to be all about winning in Formula One. Now they are looking at other avenues - going to race in IndyCar and Le Mans, for example. They are great things in themselves, but McLaren going in that direction, rather than making grand prix racing their sole priority, makes me shudder."

"I live locally and I bump into friends who work at McLaren. They are disappointed with what is happening and remonstrate with me," said Whitmarsh, who clearly still harbours a significant emotional attachment to the team - and would seemingly be open to a return if McLaren bosses if they were to reach out to him. 

"If a delegation showed up at my door, I wouldn’t turn them away...They know where I am."

Clearly, there is much that needs to change at McLaren if they are to once again establish themselves as serious championship contenders. With their 2018 season effectively over, McLaren chiefs should use the remainder of this term to attempt to establish some harmony within the team.

If reports are to be believed, Martin Whitmarsh might well be the man to oversee this. He certainly appears to be ready to answer the call.