Ron Dennis has branded Eddie Jordan as a "village idiot" for suggesting that he stand down as McLaren chief executive.
The Woking-based constructor have struggled since switching to Honda engines last winter, which led to BBC pundit Jordan calling for Dennis to resign.
However, the 68-year-old has suggested that McLaren are making progress.
"I consider Formula 1 a family, and families live in villages. And villages always have a village idiot. He fits the bill perfectly," Dennis told Sky Sports.
"It's certainly a challenge. Data is something we focus on all the time and our car performance is actually extremely good here. It's hard to believe but we're getting better aero figures than any other time during the year.
"The progress is on chassis performance. We have a real challenge with our partners Honda. They are wrestling with reliability as well as performance; and when reliability becomes an issue, I'm afraid performance suffers."
McLaren's fortunes suffered another setback when Jenson Button was forced to retire on the first lap of the British Grand Prix after teammate Fernando Alonso struck his rear tyre.
