DNFs are a fact of life, says Haug

Haug admitted before Sunday's European Grand Prix that he is constantly worried about how reliable the McLaren-Mercedes package is.

But he insists the likes of Ferrari are in the same boat and he believes McLaren-Mercedes will overcome its recent problems.

The British team has failed to come to grips with a string of mechanical problems that have plagued it since the start of the season. In 16 starts with both cars, McLaren has failed to get to the finish line on six occasions and stalled on the grid four times.

Double champ Mika Hakkinen has been the victim of most of the problems, including an exploding clutch which cost him 10 points when it failed five corners from a certain victory.

"Reliability is a problem as it is for any team," said Haug. "It is not just a problem for our team.

"It is always a worry, but I don't think any team can guarantee that both cars will get to the finish line. It is always our goal to get both cars to the end, but that is not always the way it goes.

"We have been in an unfortunate position and we have lost a lot of points because of reliability problems," he added.

Haug, however, does not see the mechanical failures as a reason to be downbeat and instead believes McLaren can overcome the problems.

"We hope we can move on and we are a strong team so we should," he continued. "We have made our mistakes and we must answer for them."