Martin Whitmarsh believes his McLaren team, as well as second placed Red Bull, can’t yet write-off Ferrari and even Mercedes.
Ferrari have struggled for pace since the first race in Bahrain which Fernando Alonso managed to win after Sebastian Vettel suffered mechanical problems, dropping him from first to third.
The Italian team are now 113 points off McLaren, whilst the Mercedes team are a further 39 points behind after ten races.
“I’d love to believe that,” Whitmarsh said in reply to whether or not he saw the championship as a two-horse race.
“But experience has told me that you can’t write them off,” he said in a McLaren phone-in. “Ferrari are a strong team, they’re technically capable, have fantastic resources and they’ve got one former world champion and one other top-flight driver.
“Mercedes-Benz similarly have got one former multiple world champion and a very good driver in Nico [Rosberg]. So I think it’s too early to write them off.”
The also FOTA chairman, admitted his Woking based outfit needs to improve its pace, especially dring qualifying, if it’s continually challenge Red Bull.
“We need to improve our car and do as good a job as we can do. Red Bull clearly are the principle challenge at the moment, but I don’t dismiss the others.”
