Whitmarsh: engine reliability may give McLaren advantage

McLaren’s boss Martin Whitmarsh thinks that the superior engine reliability may become a trump card for McLaren’s final run to try to beat Red Bull and Ferrari on the 2010 drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

With the final two races still to go all five drivers bidding for the Formula One title have used their eight available engines for the season. The use of a ninth engine would carry with it a heavy, ten-place grid penalty. However Hamilton’s and Button’s engines available engines have completed relatively low mileage.

“Mercedes-Benz have done a great job,” said Whitmarsh during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Phone-In ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. “We will not expect engines to run more than two race distances in races until the end of the season.”

This will mean that in Brazil and Abu Dhabi will have less restrictions and will be able to force the pace further than their closest competitors. Still Mark Webber will be in a strong position as he just used a new V8 in Korea. On the other side of the fence, Sebastien Vettel and Fernando Alonso will have to be more cautious not to risk an engine break.

“Certainly some of our competitors are going to have to have more mileage on their engines and their engines classically have not been quite as reliable as the Mercedes-Benz engines,” continued Whitmarsh. “So I think there’s a potential advantage that we have there, but that can change in one revolution of an engine.”

McLaren will be coming to Brazil still thinking about the title hunt. At the moment the team lies in second place in the constructors’ standings, 27 points behind Red Bull and 25 ahead of Ferrari, while in the drivers’ table Hamilton is third, 21 points off Alonso, and Button is a further 21 adrift in fifth.