McLaren boss: I would rather lose the championship than fix a race
Martin Whitmarsh, team principal of Formula One outfit McLaren, has claimed his team would never instruct one of its drivers to give up position for the other.
At last weekend's German Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, in first place at the time, was seen to slow down to let teammate Fernando Alonso take the chequered flag after receiving instructions from the paddock.
The move allowed Alonso, already ahead of Massa in the standings, to put himself back in contention for this year's drivers' championship.
But Whitmarsh insists he would rather forfeit the chance to win a title than to ask one of his drivers to relinquish his position for the other.
"In 2007 we sacrificed a world championship," he said.
"We lost by one point. Had we leaned in my opinion to the advantage of one of our two drivers that year – and there were lots of temptations to do so – then it would have made enough of a difference to have acquired the extra point to have won."
This weekend sees the 2010 Formula One season head to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which gets underway on August 1st.
Posted by Daniel Owens
