McLaren: Red Bull deserved teams' title

RBR wrapped up the team's crown with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's 1-2 finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix, just six seasons and 106 races after energy drinks tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz acquired the Jaguar team from Ford at the end of 2004.

"I think I have to congratulate Red Bull," said Whitmarsh. "It is a new name on the trophy and that has to be good for the sport, they have done a good job and they deserved the constructors' championship.

"We will see now. They will be pushing hard for the drivers and so will Fernando [Alonso] and so will Lewis [Hamilton]. I think it is good as I say for the sport to go to the last round like this, it is fantastic.

"It has been just an epic championship and I think we have all enjoyed it, we've had highs and lows during the season, but we will see what happens in the last race now.

"We don't like ceding constructors' but we now have to make sure... we should be able to retain second place in the constructors' championship but we do not take anything for granted," he added. "Just as we can go and win the drivers' we can go and lose second place in the constructors' [to Ferrari], it is all possible and it is the great thing about this sport.

Vettel's victory means that Alonso holds an eight-point advantage over Webber going into next weekend's finale, and the Ferrari driver need only finish one place behind him or second to either Red Bull driver in Abu Dhabi to secure the crown.

Had Vettel moved over for Webber in Brazil however, the Spaniard would have needed to beat the Australian to ensure he became world champion for a third time. Nevertheless, Whitmarsh was not surprised that Red Bull didn't employ team tactics to cement its position in the drivers' fight.

"No, it didn't surprise me at all," he said. "I don't think any of us thought that was going to happen today. In reality it makes it a bigger challenge for them, but that is what happened."