• Monaco Grand Prix

McLaren needs luck and pace - Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh defended Jenson Button's race pace © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Martin Whitmarsh

• Teams:
• McLaren

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says that the team wasn't quick enough to win in Monaco without some luck.

An encouraging season-opening victory for Jenson Button in Melbourne remains McLaren's only win of the year so far as Red Bull leads the constructors' championship. Lewis Hamilton is yet to win in a season that has seen six different winners and Whitmarsh said that his fourth place in Monaco was the best that could have been achieved without some luck.

"We weren't quite quick enough and it didn't quite go our way in the race," Whitmarsh said. "With one lap to go we were within three seconds off the race leader but on this track if you've got a load of cars between you and the race leader it's very difficult to do anything about it."

Button had a shocking race as a first lap incident left him stuck behind Heikki Kovalainen for the rest of the race before he retired. Whitmarsh said that he believe Button's problems getting the tyres to work in qualifying is hampering him in races, but would not criticise his performance on Sunday.

"I think he's struggling a little bit with tyre energy, but in this race then he spent the time behind someone all the way through. We had him on the prime tyre, he was looking after his tyres and he ran it long. Clearly in qualifying he struggled, but in terms of race pace then it was impossible to tell because it was just one of those tricky races that ended untidily with a puncture."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.