As David Coulthard retired on lap 21 of the Canadian Grand Prix with a throttle failure, raising McLaren's number of DNFs for this season due to mechanical breakdowns to 4, it occurred to me that maybe McLaren's strong performance is taking a toll on the car that might eventually be the deciding factor in the World Championship. I know very little about the technical aspect of motor racing, but I know enough to realize that very rarely does a team achieve both reliability and speed in the same make. Usually, when the car is very fast and powerful, it also suffers more breakdowns. Bearing this in mind, I remembered how the 1994 Ferrari was considered one of the fastest cars on track, but also one of the most unreliable. I had a look: in that year, Ferrari had 11 DNFs due to mechanical failure. Thus, out of 32 possible finishes (2 for every one of the 16 Grand Prix held that year), Ferrari had a 34.4% unreliability rate. McLaren's unreliability rate so far for the 1998 season is 28.6% (4 retirements out of 14 possible finishes).

This is a very high rate, and one which should trouble Ron Dennis, McLaren's team boss. In fact, it is even higher than McLaren's last year's, which was 26.5% (9 mechanical DNFs out of 34 possible finishes). Moreover, When looking at the unreliability rate of the four top teams in Formula One - McLaren, Williams, Ferrari and Benetton - in the last 5 years, it also appears to be a high rate by any means, and certainly not a rate which a Constructors Champion can afford.

It seems close to certain the McLaren will take both the CC and WC this year. But, if there is any chance that McLaren will lose their championship, especially that of the drivers, it will be due to unreliability. In fact, Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team need not hope for much more than for McLaren to keep up retiring at the exact same rate as they do so far. With Ferrari's high reliability rate in the last two years and Schumacher's consistency, it doesn't take more than that to hand the world championship to the German.

There is also one more thing to note from the equation between the top teams' reliability in the last 5 years: it is usually the team with the highest consistency that wins the FIA F1 Constructors and\or Drivers Championship. Except last year. Benetton was by far the most reliable car last season - with only one mechanical DNF all year long - and yet it finished third in the championship. Which means reliability is not the only factor to take into account. Drivers count too. So do other parameters, such as accidents, spin offs, car design, and more. However, both Williams, who won both championships last year, and Ferrari, who was a close second, had a fairly low unreliability rate. Which means you cannot win a championship with a close 30% unreliability, such as the McLaren's this year. This is something to bear in mind, as we go back to the European circuits, some very demanding on the cars, and await the second half of the season to unfold the mechanical changes that both McLaren and its rivals bring.

               1994      1995      1996      1997      1998 
# of races     (16)      (17)      (17)      (17)       (7) 
                                                            
                                                            
McLaren        34.4%     29.4%     17.7%     26.5%     28.6%
               (11)      (10)      (6)       (9)        (4) 
                                                            
Ferrari        34.4%     32.4%     35.3%      8.8%      7.2%
               (11)      (11)      (12)       (3)       (1) 
                                                            
Williams       12.5%     17.6%     8.8%      11.8%       0  
                (4)       (6)      (3)        (4)        -  
                                                            
Benetton       12.5%      2.9%    20.6%       2.9%     14.3%
                (4)       (1)      (7)        (1)       (2) 

• The numbers shown in brackets, under the percentage, represents the actual number of mechanical DNFs all year for each team.

• last year McLaren had only one mechanical DNF in the first 7 races of the year, and 8 mechanical DNFs in the remaining 10. Likewise, both Ferrari and Benetton suffered most, if not all, their DNFs in the latter part of the year, after Canada. Only Williams had more DNFs in the first 7 races of the season (three mechanical DNFs) than in the remaining 10 races (only one DNF). Approximately the same goes for 1996 - most DNFs occurred in the last 10 races. Another point to consider when reviewing McLaren's performance this year.

• The Williams 1994 unreliability rate does not include Ayrton Senna's accident, which could be perceived as a mechanical failure, although it is listed as a crash. If you want to include that, then the actual rate is 15.6%.

• Apart from Ferrari, all top teams replaced their engine at one point or another during those five years. It seems that, in terms of reliability only, the change affected the teams very little, if at all.

• Benetton has certainly been the most reliable car throughout the last 5 years, and last year had the same reliability rate as also the same engine as that of 1995, when the team won both Championships. I can't help but wonder what their prospects would have been in winning more championships had Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn would have stayed there, certainly in light of the impressive improvement they both brought to Ferrari, as can be seen in the sharp decrease of the Italian team's unreliability rate.

• All in all, it can be safely said that reliability isn't necessarily enough to grant you a championship. But it can also safely be perceived, that unreliability might be enough to prevent you from winning it.