Martin Whitmarsh says, “It really is still wide open”
The McLaren team Principal Martin Whitmarsh calls the rest of the two races to be as unpredictable as the entire season has been. The Korean Grand Prix held last weekend proved to be yet another very thrilling race of the season.
Moreover, unlike expected, it did not turn out to be a decisive race for the 2010 championship.
Now, the year is to embrace only two more races and there are only 50 more points to play for. Still, Whitmarsh believes that the climax and suspense is to stay the same till the chequered flag of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is not
seen.
As the last race in Korea started off, anyone could have very clearly predicted that Red Bull is the strongest of all the teams on the track. Having secured the pole position and second place
on the grid was very encouraging for the team. However, as the day ended the Austrian Team turned out to be the weakest performers of the day. The favourite for the championship Mark Webber crashed out of the race while the other team driver,
Sebastian Vettel ended the race poorly owing to engine failure while he was close to an almost certain victory.
On the other hand, the qualifying saw team McLaren performing below par as well. Also, both the team drivers stood timidly at 4th and 5th places in the drivers’ championship prior to the race. However, by
the end of the 17th round of the season, the 2nd place finish of Lewis Hamilton brought the team back to the battle front once again. It also elevated the British driver to 3rd place while the team stands more firmly in the
Constructors’ Championship.
At the same time, the other team driver, Jenson Button, had a poor day in Korea and was only able to end pointlessly at 12thplace. With this finish, the driver’s hopes for the title seem next to impossible now, although
he is still adamant to keep on fighting till the very last race in Abu Dhabi.
Looking at the scenario, the McLaren Principal reckons that making any predictions now is a too bold thing. While talking about the last race he said, “If ever there was an after race where you can say ‘anything can happen in the
rest of this championship’, this is the one isn’t it. Anything can happen and that’s very obvious and evident from what we’ve seen today.”
Whitmarsh agreed to the fact that they should have done far better in the debut Korean Grand Prix and with this finish they have missed a very good chance of finding themselves a better place in both the championships. Yet, he
added that he has no regrets for Hamilton’s second place finish although he missed a great chance to end at the top. Anyhow, he believes that Button’s pointless ending has almost cost him the 2010 championship but they will keep the fight going on till the
very last moment. The driver though has refused to give up, but his chances now seem very bleak.
While recalling the race Whitmarsh said, “For me it was disappointing when the win was possible. We made a good call under that safety car to come in. We very nearly got it then… We as a team reacted best, it didn’t quite work
out for us otherwise he [Hamilton] would have been in the lead. So that was a disappointment. But obviously Lewis will be disappointed that he fell off and let Fernando through. So there was sort of two points in the race to give us reason [to think] that
it [the race] was winnable, and we didn’t.”
However, with two more race weekends yet to be witnessed the team Principal said, “It really is still wide open.”
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