McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh believes Lewis Hamilton can still win the drivers’ title, but only if they can overcome their reliability problems.
The Brit had been leading the Singapore GP, but retired after his gearbox malfunctioned, bringing his non-finishes to four, three of which have happened in the last five races.
Whitmarsh is confident McLaren can fight for the next six wins and close the gap to leader Fernando Alonso who currently has a 52-point lead over Hamilton.
“We have to make sure that we get Lewis to the finish six more times this year without issues, and if he is doing that and, with the current pace of the car, then the title is possible.
“We have six rounds of this championship left and there are 150 points available to him; so if we can go out there and win him 150 points then that makes a world championship threat.
“We have to look forward. We are disappointed with the outcome here, but we are not giving up and neither will he. We will keep on fighting.”